Parsha with Rabbi David Bibi

A Kabbalah and the Silver Dollar

 Every Yom Kippur we are tempted to make enormous promises—to change everything, fix everything, become someone completely different. But HaShem asks us to open an openin

The Prayer That Reopened the Case

 This week, Chantelle and I found ourselves climbing the narrow mountain roads into Peki’in, walking through a place where the world of our Ḥakhamim suddenly felt very cl

The Door Yom Kippur Cannot Open

 We can fast for twenty-five hours. We can beat our chests, cry through Kol Nidrei, confess every sin and remain in synagogue until the final . But the Mishnah teaches th

When the Excuses Run Out - Ha’azinu, Rabbi Elazar ben Dordaya, and the Courage of Teshuvah

 We all have explanations for why we are the way we are. It was our parents. It was the home we grew up in. It was our environment, our circumstances, our personality, pe

Why Some Don’t Dip the Apple in Honey

 Why would anyone avoid honey on the very night when we are asking Hashem for a sweet year? The answer takes us from the ancient customs of Ashkenaz to the Kabbalists of

Closer Than We Think — What Torah Is Trying to Make of Us - Nesavim

 less badIn this morning’s , we explore a remarkable teaching of Rabbi Frand built around the words Why did HaShem create us unfinished? Why does the Torah hide an allusi

Open the Gates — The Secret of the Tehilim of Parnassah And Finacial Success

 Why did become one of our great prayers for ? We say it every Sunday as we begin a new week. In Moroccan communities it is recited as Shabbat departs and we return to th

When the Rebel Says Amen - Can the Yetzer Hara Become the Yetzer Tov?

When the Rebel Says Amen Can the Yetzer Hara Become the Yetzer Tov? Every morning, we wrap the tefillin shel-yad around our arm and then place the tefillin shel-rosh up

When You Can’t See the Runway

When You Can’t See the Runway What happens when we find ourselves flying through the clouds — unable to see what lies ahead, frightened by the turbulence, and unsure w

Why Does Amalek Never Go Away?

Breakfast & ClassWhy does Amalek never go away?לֹא תִּשְׁכָּח — never to forgetDrawing on the insights of , we explore three remarkable approaches to Amalek: the danger o

The Sound of Emunah - Ki Tavo

This morning’s Breakfast & Class begins with a few simple words from Parashat Ki Tavo: וְהָיָה אִם־שָׁמוֹעַ תִּשְׁמַע בְּקוֹל ה׳ אֱלֹהֶיךָ — “If we will surely listen to

Two Wars — And Who Is Left Behind? Ki Tesse

Breakfast & Class “Ki tetze la-milchamah al oyevekha”Eglah ArufahWe discovered that the Torah may actually be describing : the war against the enemy outside us, the far m

Can Something Small Really Make a Difference?

What can one small mitzvah possibly accomplish? We say Tehillim for a refuah, give tzedakah in someone’s zechut, dedicate Torah learning to someone who is ill—and yet the

The Sin Was the Strategy - Ki Tesse

 This morning’s Breakfast & Class begins with a troubling question in Parashat Ki Tetze. Why does the Torah judge Ammon and Moav so harshly? Their crime was not simply th

Bringing the Captive Home - Ki Tetzeh

  begins with the opening words of Parashat Ki Tetzeh: — when we go out to war against our enemies. The Zohar and the Or HaḤaim reveal that the Torah may also be describ

The Measure of a Person Is His Sense of Gratitude Shoftim

 , based on insight of Rabbi Frand, we look at a remarkable Gemara in and Rav Pam’s powerful insight into three seemingly insignificant favors — a hand offered on a bridg

You Don’t Need to Know How the Book Ends Shoftim Elul Birthdays

 You Don’t Need to Know How the Book Ends — A Birthday, Rosh Hodesh Elul & Parashat Shoftim  , we used that unusual convergence to ask a question that becomes more meani

The Rules Apply to Me Too - Shoftim

 We then turn to the Torah’s remarkable warning that שֹׁחַד — a bribe — “blinds the eyes of the wise.”

Elul: A Refuge in Time What Are We Doing With the Time Hashem Has Given Us?

Elul: A Refuge in Time — What Are We Doing With the Time Hashem Has Given Us?  , the city of refuge—a place designed not simply for exile, but for reflection, rehabilita

What It Means to Be a Child of HaShem Re’eh

 , we explored one of the most remarkable verses in the Torah: “בָּנִים אַתֶּם לַה׳ אֱלֹקֵיכֶם” — “You are children of HaShem your G-d.”Along the way, we explored what it