Free Choice
Choices are free; it is the consequences that we pay for dearly. Or, more dearly, that pay us.
Most things in life are beyond conventional choice. We cannot choose not to breathe and remain living. We cannot choose to cease eating and expect to grow older. Like the color of our eyes, our genes, families, minds, natures, abilities, are mostly ingrained in us and beyond our will to change. True free choice is what we choose to do with these parts that make us who we are and how we choose to live with the elements at our disposal. We cannot choose not to breathe, but we can choose what to do when we do breathe. We cannot choose to cease eating, but we very well can choose what to eat and how to eat it. These are the most freeing choices of all.
Joseph’s Calf
Jacob and Joseph teach us about our responsibility for things that are in our control and even that which happens outside of our control.
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The Brick Factory
In Egypt, the slaves became the Jewish nation while baking bricks. These bricks show man’s power to build and be “partners in creation.”
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A Jew in Madagascar
A freely-translated excerpt from a letter the Rebbe wrote in the fall of 1961 to a Jewish woman living in Madagascar.
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Olympic Thoughts
Sports are all consuming in today’s society, but what can we learn from this about reality and illusion?
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Reeh: Boundaries
This week’s Torah portion deals with blessings and curses. In the face of world tragedies, how does the Torah explain the reconciliation of both?
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Shoftim: Katrina And Gaza
Rabbi Jacobson’s answer to a question about the link between the Israeli evacuation from Gaza with the catastrophic devastation of by Hurricane Katrina.
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Netzovim – Vayeilech: Birthing
Samech Vav, part 19 discusses the renewed light that shines on the eve of Rosh Hashana, a light which is relevant to each of us as a unique being…
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Spiritual Futures
Every man can grant G-d a kinyan in his life, asserting mind over heart until only his g-dly drives come to fruition.
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Simchat-Torah: From Chickens to Vegetables
As we move right along from fauna to flora, from swirling chickens before Yom Kippur to thrusting shrubs on Sukkot, the holidays have an organic nature…
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