Torah With A Twist

Shavuot - Make Your  Own Harvest Tonight starts the holiday of Shavout -  starting of the wheat harvest and the end of the barley harvest in the Torah. Shavuot also marks the time that the Jewish people were given the Torah on Mount Sinai. The Christian festival of Pentecost also has its origins in Shavuot! You should feel that The Torah and it's stories and lessons provide spiritual nourishment and enlightenment.  The holiday is synonymous with having a Dairy dinner/meal in celebration, and that can be directly compared to and runs parallel to when a Mother gives milk (Dairy) to her new born baby to nourish him/her!  It is necessary to grow,prosper, and develop!  It's also part of maturing and the processes.  I remember when I was a small child, and both of my Grandmothers and my Mom prepared a beautiful Shavuot Meal, and what I really remember are the delicious sweet Blintzes made from scratch, and absolutley the beautiful lab...

Bamidbar-  Here's OUR Chance We are seeing it, feeling it, experiencing it emotionally, the ups and the downs of this rather overwhelming Covid-19 world-wide pandemic virus; many people growing extremely exhausted with the stay at home orders, wearing masks when out and about, and some are even in avoidance mode.   In today's very uncertain and somewhat unsettling world at current time, we need to shift our focus on the growth of our new norm and build up successes within our own lives and focus together, as well as individually. Like in this week's Parsha/Torah reading,some new rules and regulations continue, like that of the Census and somewhat of a division thereof,in both the reading and in today's modern world in the USA.  In our own modern society, this is very true!  It's something that was absolutley created and although helpful (we'll call it that) at times, it has also created great harm to humankind! Yes, for "the records", it...

Behor- Bechukotai -  Ah, but give from your heart!                                                         25:35 If your brother or sister becomes impoverished and his/her hand [assets] become shaky among you, you must help to support him, [so too] the proselyte and the sojourner, [so] that he shall live with you. 36 You shall not take from him interest or usury, and your brother/sister shall live with you! We must ask, who is the rich one? The person who has extreme financial wealth? Yes, in today's world that holds some truth, as does the person who may struggle here and there financially and is willing to have an open mind set,and adheres to Torah of yesteryear and beliefs and customs of his/her today? Yes! Both are indeed, in different facets. We may see in contrast, that those less financially fortunate may have some or a f...

EMOR -  Keep Going Forward All beginnings are difficult. In starting any new venture, we have to be prepared for the inevitable setbacks. Almost always, new methods always seem to be not as efficient as the old, tried and true ones we are used to, until the kinks are worked out! It is NOT easy, nor does it come with ease! We must try and make an honest attempt! Like the old saying goes, “Practice makes perfect”, or “try, try again!”  Or the famous quote from Gene Kranz, of Apollo 13 fame, “Failure is not an option.” I agree 118%! Religion,beliefs,value systems are no different, as we have our ups and our downs, and our starts and our re-starts. A prime example is our Passover Sedar. It should be fairly fresh in our minds. The Sedar has many beginnings as well as many endings!  It is made up of eating special foods, telling the story of the mass exodus.... Each section has many starts. We wash our hands, but we do not fully do so because we recite no ...