The Rabbi and I

Now that celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of our country is over go forth and live the message of our founders. The consent of the people is needed not only to make the government legitimate it is also needed to support the government in power. Here in DC "No taxation without representation" is not simply about taxes. It is about dignity and the insistence of the citizens that no...

Don’t be tempted to declare that the glass is half empty or half full. The size of the glass does not determine the amount of liquid. The real question is do you want more or is it enough? Don’t let the size of the glass trick you. It is the same way with the media, they package the message so that we focus on the package and not the message! Is your life half empty or half full!

Semper Fi, children welcome to boot camp, this is my house and you will do what I say. You need to move away from the idea that being a gunnery sergeant makes you a good father. Going to the other extreme of being an enabler and letting the kids do what ever doesn’t make you a good father either. We are neither our children’s best friend nor their gunny. Instead let’s be a parent to our children.

Don’t let jumping motorcycles and gladiators in a cage distract you from the importance of our flag. Honoring and respecting what our flag represents is a 365 day tradition. And one day a year we highlight the symbol of our Republic. Mickey shows his respect in his unique way! Today we salute the United States of America

The system is rigged. We have been brainwashed into thinking that we don’t have the brains to make our own decisions. Or the heart to treat each other with kindness and compassion. Or that to be a politician you need to lack the courage to follow your brain and heart. And the rest of us are following a road that leads nowhere good. It is time to get off The Yellow Brick Road!

Being ambitious is a positive attribute and leads us to doing great things. Avarice or greed is destructive and leads us to perdition. Unfortunately we can’t tell when ambition becomes greed. I know that I always see myself as ambitious and never greedy. But I can always tell when you have crossed the line. And there in lies the answer. Each of us needs a friend to tell us when we have chosen self...

Whenever I hear or read someone telling me that they know what God wants and it is not what I think, I am reminded of a baseball game! Someone in the nose bleed section of the bleachers screams at the plate umpire: “are you blind, that was a strike!” From 240 yards away this spectator can see better than the umpire standing right behind the plate! Amazing isn’t it!

Israel Right or Wrong - Is that Wrong or Right? Judaism is not a Political Action Committee (PAC) for the State of Israel! Judaism is supported by God, Torah, & Israel. The first 2 are easily understood it is the third that has become used and abused. It refers to the people Israel and not to geopolitical entity. Israel the country is not the same as Israel the people!

We definitely need a “God the Mother” day. Since the “One” is unknowable then it is appropriate that we refer to “a higher Power” as either male or female. We can only know what God is not and we can know God’s attributes! God is the Father & the Mother

Hints, hacks, and tricks you can use to avoid being drawn into hating. Pundits and influencers use subtle and not so subtle ways to lure us into joining their campaign of hate. Here is my vaccine to inoculate you so that you won’t be infected with hate.

In “the world to come” you will be asked if you denied yourself any pleasures or indulgences that your faith community permits or allows? “And God looked upon creation and declared it good”. Over Doing Destroys Any Pleasure

In high school, college, and professional sports sports everyone wants God on their side. In business negotiations, a divorce, or any competition everyone wants God on their side. Needles to say both sides in war want God on their side! I am glad that I am not God constantly taking sides. Don’t put God in the middle!

I heard a famous podcaster call the Holocaust a lie, he said that only 40,000 Jews were murdered and not 6 million! According to him it is okay to murder 40,000 innocent people. I find his morality suspect! The 6 million Jews murdered stand for the million of Poles, the priests, the nuns, the Soviet people, the Gypsies, and the disabled, among 12 million more murdered. The holocaust is not just ab...

Yes, the things around us would make us all give up. And everything around us would still be depressing if we give up our faith. Each of us needs a strategy to enjoy what we have and live each day. Us...

Using Sacred Literature to promote war, conquest, and death has never had a good outcome. Political leaders use sacred literature to gather support and power for wars that only they and their supporters consider valid. Stop distorting the teachings that would unite us. Do not use God and prayer to justify your political position!

Iran has been using its proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Ansar Allah to kill, murder and create instability in the Middle East. These proxies were abetted by countries other than Iran in the area. Iran’s plan was not only to eliminate Israel but to conquer and control the other Muslim countries in the Middle East. Iran is now attacking the Muslim countries that are its neighbors. One can no longer p...

Christian Zionism is not fringe. It is organized, funded, politically sophisticated, and deeply sincere. And its view of Iran is not primarily strategic — it’s prophetic. That changes everything about how its members engage with policy. We need to understand them. Because if we want to make sense of why U.S. policy around Israel and Iran looks the way it does, we can’t ignore the millions of Ameri...

“War is worse than Hell, the people in Hell deserve to be there, in war innocent people die along with the guilty!” Said “Hawkeye” Pierce to Father Mulcahy. Iran had to be stopped and contained. Even the great deal maker couldn’t make a deal with Iran! What choice did he have. Does he have a plan or how to end the war? Starting a war is easy, ending it not so much! #Iranwar#iran#israel

We all do it, except the birds and the bees don’t, the animals in the forest don’t, only humans use social media to avoid reality. How does “doom scrolling” work for you. Time to stop focusing on our under 18 youth and focus on all of us. Drugs, alcohol, rock & roll, social media are all ways to keep our attention off of what surrounds us. Social media is not an acceptable diversion when it pr...

Israel has been steadily moving towards annexing The West Bank. The passage of the most recent legislation is one step away from Annexing The West Bank. With a wink and a nod from the United States Israel will annex the West Bank. Israel is preparing to annex the West Bank

At some point in your coming of age your parents or grandparents said to you “What were you thinking”. When you make jokes, use cartoons, or substitute language you are actually expressing what you really believe. Mens Rae, your guilty mind!

It is not too late to revise your Holocaust observance statement to include the reality that the Jews were the victims of Nazi antisemitism. Your opinion matters and what you don’t say is as important as what you do say. So say it now “the Nazis murdered Jews and those who helped and defended them”. And in the end over 30 million other innocent people were murdered.

The shofar, a ram’s horn, is blown at the High Holy Days (Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur), serves as a call to wake up to the results of our actions during the past year. Four sounds are blown to wake us up. The Tekiah, a long, loud blast, gets the listeners attention. The Shevarim, 3 broken sounds, calls for repentance. The Teruah, 9 staccato notes, wakes the soul. And finally the Tekiah Gedolah,...

ס'וועט גאָרנישט העלפן גאָרנישט העלפן Gar nicht helfen" or “gor nicht helfn” in Yiddish means "nothing helps" or "beyond help," expressing that a situation is hopeless or that efforts are futile, often with a sense of resignation or a recognition that intervention isn't useful. We do however have another option. Do what MacGyver did! He looked at the tools and things he had around himself and used...

I had a sign on my computer in my Hospital office that read: “You Are Going to Have A Good Day Because You Found Someone to Blame For Yesterday’s Mistakes!” That is exactly what we hear from Orthodox and Conservative Rabbis. Interfaith marriages are destroying Judaism! Rather than addressing their failure to present a positive, spiritual, and guilt free Judaism they choose to blame others.