Torah With A Twist

 Ki Teitzi ei - We are and/or  need to be ONE!                                      In this week's Torah portion, we read about many mitzvahs/commandments- 74 to be exact, and that is more than in any other Torah reading!  We can see that in Hebrew, this is Ayin Dalet , which also stands for ‘ed’ (not pronounced like Mr. Ed or the movie “Ted”).  The two letters in the Hebrew alphabet, Ayin and Dalet are enlarged in the first sentence of the Shema, and together these two letters form the word ‘ed’, which means ‘witness’ or ‘forever’, strongly suggesting that the Shema has the utmost influence on us, day in and day out!   It should be within our souls. Interestingly, the word ‘echad’ in Hebrew can imply a unity in diversity.  For example, Exodus 26:6 when speaking of the Tabernacle (Mishkan) is to be built so that “it shall be built, so it will be one (echad) ...

Re' Eh - Your actions are shown in your behavior From this week’s Torah Portion -  “See, I put before you today blessing and curse.”    The blessing will go to those who keep the Torah and its Mitzvahs, and the curse, will directly affect those who do NOT adhere to the Torah and the Mitzvahs!   We witness what might seem very simplistic; The words “See” & “listen” seem almost interchangeable, or are they? The word see is used “ SEE” , and not what one might have thought, the word,  “LISTEN” , as in, “Listen, I’ll explain to you………”.   So, why is it written and was used the word, “SEE”, which in Hebrew is the name of this Portion,  “RE’EIH” ?!?  The answer is rather simple, or is it; just ask my mom, or yours! As the ancient scholars and scholastic Rabbis believed,  SEEING IS BELIEVING!    When a person hears something, he/she may not always believe it, or perhaps he/she did not fully hear, listen clearly and/...

 Eikev - Use your own GPS to Guide Yourself! I remember when I was a little boy,my dad would go to the AAA office, and get a bunch of road maps and meet with the travel counselor that had a big yellow highlighter pen in his hand, ready to draw the path to our driving destination for our family trip, not ever giving it any consideration that my dad would usually take a turn by ‘mistake’, which dad would laugh off, and say, “I decided to take a shortcut”….How many times have you listened and looked to your GPS on you smart phone, or remember looking at a road map, before GPS ever existed????....and realizing that you need to make a right turn, instead of a left, or you might have gone onto the wrong Spur/exit on the Freeway or on the toll road?   Be it the Map or GPS was incorrect (ha!!, although Google Maps does falter at times), or you just over shot the exit, and ‘we’ as humans do that too!!!  Did you give up, did you turn around and go home?  I sure hope ...