Chanukkah and the Yosef story are always intertwined.  This year we explore how Hanukkah and the Tzaddik can help us see what is and also what could be.   Yosef helps the brothers see who they are and then see what is possible, and Hanukkah helps us look at our own lives in order to truly [...]

Why do a lot of people not like to do pesukei d’zimra?  People often come late to this part of the service, or skip it entirely.  And yet Rebbe Nachman says that this is what we’ll be doing pretty much all the time in the World to Come.  And we don’t want to skip that [...]

You’ve got to know where your vulnerabilities are and be able to establish firm fences around them.  And this may make you feel (and look) like a zealot, but that’s OK.  The Hashmonaim were zealots, and they were the winners of the Hanukkah story.

What makes something an ‘up’ moment or a ‘down’ moment?  Follow the theme through Parshat Vaeyshev for an interesting and enlightening conclusion.

Once we unearth the light and remove it from its shell, wants to inspire us and those around us.  but we need to be sure the circuitry is in place, and this is not so simple. VERY practical stuff.

Melave Malka – a special time when we hold the holy and the profane together, when we can walk into the world accompanied by the clarity of Shabbat.

In order to stay tuned in to how we, as individuals, need to move in accordance with the will of our Maker, our hearts must stay open.  Not so simple,though, is it?

When we do a mitzvah, something enters into us.  It wants to make itself comfortable inside of us, and might have to rearrange some of the furniture.

Interestingly, Eisav is consider to be on a higher level than Ya’akov.  But his power is inaccessible because it is chaotic.  Ya’akov doesn’t want to squander the opportunity, so he prepares himself… for chaos.