Fitness centers, weight-loss programs, exercise classes, and dieting books have all proliferated in the last thirty years. There seems to be no limit as to the numbers of techniques to shape and maintain one’s physical body. Our culture promotes looking fit and young. Much emphasis is placed on outer appearance so much so that plastic [...]
[ Read Full Post → ]Are we all fish in a bowl?
Last summer we bought a miniature-sized fish tank (well, more like a fish bowl) and placed one fish in it. Our 11-year old daughter picked the fish, a blue-colored fighting fish. What distinguishes this fish from many others is that if you put two of its kind in one bowl, they are likely to attack one another. I [...]
[ Read Full Post → ]A pound of flesh
Warning! The remarks in this essay are not for the faint of heart. The answer to most questions that ask “which is better – this way or that way?” – is: “it depends”. One can argue almost any case from both sides of the issue. For example, is it better to wait for things to [...]
[ Read Full Post → ]All for one and one for all
If one takes a look at the progression of orthodox Judaism in the last 25-30 years, it could be said that there has been a significant shift to the right. That is to say, yeshivish mores have increased, there is less of a kippa seruga element in Brooklyn, and many parts of Long Island are [...]
[ Read Full Post → ]Tending to Business
My wife found an old Jewish Action magazine and placed it on my bed opened to a page with an article about contemporary challenges to the orthodox Jewish family. It turns out that my wife didn’t open that particular page for me to read. Well, I read it anyway. It was mildly instructive, nothing to [...]
[ Read Full Post → ]What’s in a name?
Names have significance to the extent that it can determine one’s destiny. This is learned out from the Tanchuma in parashat Haazinu and from a Gemara (Brachot 7) based on a pasuk in Tehillim (46:9). Rabbi Meir Baal Haness used to be able to look at a person and then his name, and accordingly knew [...]
[ Read Full Post → ]Divine Providence
I had another epiphany a few days ago. It wasn’t totally news to me, but it reinforced something very strong and very deep. And the source of it came from a text that I have been studying over the past few months – yes, you guessed it, Kohelet. I am inspired to post to this [...]
[ Read Full Post → ]The key to true wisdom
Whatever wisdom may be, it is far off and most profound–who can discover it? (Kohelet 7:24). So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things… (Kohelet 7:25) Shlomo Hamelech has searched his entire life for the key to true wisdom and he very eloquently shares his knowledge [...]
[ Read Full Post → ]To Covet Thy Neighbor’s Status
One of the more common vices to which humans succumb is jealousy. We look around and compare what we have to others. If we are students, we compare marks. If we are parents, we compare one child to another. If we are teenagers, we may compare the clothing others have that we don’t. We do [...]
[ Read Full Post → ]Difficult Bosses
Author Brian Kim wrote an article a few years ago entitled “Why So Many People Are In Jobs They Hate”. A recent survey in the US revealed that 61% of those aged 25 and under are not satisfied with their jobs, and 55% of those in the 45-55 age range are dissatisfied. The main reason for this, [...]
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