Online Torah Classes with Rabbi Mendy Goldberg

The Art of Positivity: Uncovering More Good in Those around Us How can we stay connected to flawed people? Learn to identify biases that misconstrue our view of others, and unlock the tools Jewish thought offers for seeing the goodness hiding in plain sight.

VAYEITZEI Nurturing V/s Coddling When delving deeper in the story of Jacob we see the education Yitzchok gave his children and grandchildren. We glean from here the methods to nurture our children without coddling them, helping them grow through the challenges life brings without resentment.

Lesson 3 The Art of Disagreeing: Navigating Differences with Respect and Understanding Does love conquer all? Explore when direct communication on hard topics is healthy, and when it’s not, and see how to sidestep personal offense, maintain grace, and achieve growth while navigating conflict.

TOLDOT Loving the Wayward Child After years of painful infertility and childlessness, Yitzchk and Rivka are finally blessed with –not one, but- two children. Yaakov, we know is the dream boy. Perfect even in the womb. Esav, on the other hand, must’ve been every parent’s worst nightmare. Chazal teach us that by age 15 he’d already violated the three capital sins of Yiddishkeit, and was a ruthless k...

The Art of Listening: Enhancing Connection through Mindful Communication See how your attention shapes every relationship. Discover the power of attentive listening and why every word shared is worthwhile, and gain practical tools for effective, active listening.

VAYEIRA To Decay, or To Germinate? Energy in a Lifeless Matter There’s an interesting detail in the story of the passing of Sarah, that goes almost unnoticed in a superficial read of this week’s Parsha. Why is Sarah buried in Chevron? Was she living there? An important lesson comes to fore: the emphasis on the sanctity of life, and the sanctity of the human body. We’ll learn that Avraham went to g...

The Art of Empathy: Nurturing Soulful Bonds and Deepening Relationships Unlock the source of all great social connections and see how Judaism’s understanding of empathy enables deep, meaningful friendships that nourish your soul.

VAYEIRA Tapping Your inner Core What are we to make of this enormous challenge thrown to a father who had a child in – his only child- in his old age? At the peak moment of the test of the akedah, when Yitzchak lies on the altar with the knife raised at his neck, Avraham hears the angel call, “Do not stretch out your hand against the boy.” Avraham looks out into the distance and sees “another ram...

LECH LECHA From Brother To Fo e Looking at the current state of affairs in world, the war, the casualties, the hate and all the rest, it’s tempting to wonder…what if? What if Isaac and Ishmael were never pitted against one another, unleashing animosity that would outlive many empires until our present day? Or –deeper yet- what if Yishmael had never come along altogether?! In many ways, the seeds o...

NOACH A Light Onto the Nations The responsibility of the Jewish people to spread faith and the Seven Noachide Laws to all of humanity. Through their unsolicited leap onto the world stage, the people of Israel have an opportunity to fulfill their historical mission to be a light unto the nations and a guide to recognizing faith in G-d. This difficult war is being fought on several fronts. The world...

SUKKOT A G-dly Embrace Why is Sukkot celebrated in the fall, after the High Holidays? What are we actually commemorating? As we explore the mystical meaning of the Holiday of Sukkot we will come to appreciate the G-dly embrace we each receive during the festival of Sukkot.

YOM KIPPUR CHANGING THE PAST ‘Pretend it never happened.’ Many times that’s our first instinct when we are faced with conclusive proof of our own misdeed. We wish we could sweep those ugly moments under the rug, or perhaps turn back time; but we can’t. So what are we to make of a transgression we’ve committed? We’re not just talking about how to learn from the mistake, or how to nor repeat it. We...

ROSH HASHANA How To Raise Great Children Rosh Hashanah is the Day of Judgment, on which our fate is decided for the upcoming year. An intriguing fact is that among all the requests and needs, the request for children is placed at the center. This is particularly evident in the two Torah Readings and the two Haftorahs on the two days of Rosh Hashanah. While on all the Holidyas we read about the day...

NITZAVIM G-D Believes In You. The power of sincerity lies therein that it cannot be faked; or at least not easily. Try reading a scripted apology to a friend you’ve hurt – it’s not going to go over well. But what if you’ve become a pro at sincere routines? Is that still genuine enough to count? Each year on Rosh Hashana we promise Hashem the world; ‘ I will change – I promise’ ‘This time it’s for...

TAVO The Hardest Word to Pronounce We live in a generation that does not admit to mistakes. Therefore, we must elaborate on one of the fundamental principles of the mitzvah of repentance: the recognition that I am responsible! The understanding that I am responsible for my choices. Responsibility means that no force in the world – external or internal – can make me do something I do not want to do...

TZEITZEI How To Win The War The Torah frames our reality in just one word at the beginning of our Parsha:"When you go out to war over your enemies, Hashem your G-d will deliver them into your hands." Over your enemies&—not against or facing your enemies. Our Chassidic Masters explain this important detail as follows: this is the secret of all secrets: there is no comparison between u...

SHOFTIM Is Change Even A Possibility? It’s that time of year again. Elul. Shofar. Teshuva, but can you really expect anything to change from last year? You gave it your best shot last time around, yet here you are again; a year later and not better than you were. How can we keep giving it our best shot without falling for the worst kind of cynicism? Here's a novel way to look at things: In Elu...

REE'H How To Create Wealth A fundamental shift in understanding is needed: we do not allocate tithing; rather, we transfer the money to those to whom it belongs. The money for tithing does not belong to us. It is temporarily held with us as a deposit until we transfer it to its true destination. Therefore, when we do our work as honest bankers, Hashem transfers more funds for us to manage. We...

EIKEV Does G-D Love Me? Feeling truly in harmony with Hashem. How do we stop arguing with G-d and truly believe in the goodness of His intentions? How do we begin to love Him &"with all our heart," with complete trust that G-d is our best friend, working to build our lives in the best way possible? This week and last week, we receive two of the most important mitzvos in Judaism; last...

VAETCHANAN Honor Thy Parents Parents are the people to whom we owe everything: our very existence and everything we have achieved. They dedicated precious years and endless resources—at the expense of their personal comfort—to raise us. Honoring parents is also a continuous duty and involves effort on the part of the children. It applies day and night, when there is time and when there isn’t, when...

For the past several days we have been inundated with doomsday prophecies that a major attack from the Iranians is set to happen on Tisha Be’Av. Scholars from Iran plan to exploit the negative energy of this day to harm us, G-d forbid. Other reports suggest that the attack will occur in the coming days, within the Nine Days, causing every heart to tremble given the inauspiciousness of these days....

In this week’s Parsha Moshe is instructed to recruit men from every tribe to wage war against Midian. This stands in contrast to the norm whereby the Tribe of Levi did not serve in the military and go out to battle. Why, then, are they joining the frontlines for this war? Or better yet – why are they usually exempt from serving? Must only other Jews die in battle, while they sit comfortably in yes...

PINCHUS The Secret To To Having A Good Day. Dozens of books and articles talk about the essential need for a proper morning routine. CEOs and successful people boast about how they structure their mornings. They have a detailed plan for how the first hour of the day looks. They do not drift with the morning but control and manage it, starting the day with an empowering text, morning exercise, and...

BALAK The Donkey Speaks, Are You Doing Your Job? This week we encounter an episode of the Donkey speaks and sees an angel. What lesson can that be teaching us, why would a donkey see more then the Human? The wicked Billam is hired to curse the Jews, instead however gives them the greatest blessings, and prophesizes about the coming of Moshiach. Why is he the one to give that prophecy? Looking deep...

CHUKAS Coping With Life, After the Loss of A Life The Red Heifer discussed in this weeks Torah reading has many questions, that even the greatest of all, Moshe said was not to understand it. What is so unique about this commandment? What was Moshe really not understanding, and what did he get from it? Delving deeper, we come to see the intrinsic feeling Moshe had, and what he believed was impossib...