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Shabbat Shalom! I hope this finds you all well. In the film The Free State of Jones, Newton Knight (played by Matthew McConaughey) and his followers hold a Confederate Lieutenant and his soldiers at gunpoint after they try to confiscate the local farmers’ corn crops. He declares: “He’s asking if I ought to kill a man for some corn … I don’t know … See here, lieutenant, you steal our corn, we got nothing to feed the hog. If we can’t feed the hog we got nothing to put in the smokehouse, we got nothing to put in the smokehouse we starve in the winter. That’s murder, ain’t it? You know what the penalty for murder is, don’t you, lieutenant?”[1] Often in life, we only think of the immediate impacts of our words and actions. But how often do we think of the many long-term ramifications and secondary, and tertiary […]

Cleanliness is next to Godliness Shabbat Shalom! I pray this finds you all well. As a liberal arts guy, I’ve always held medical professionals (doctors, PA’s, dentists, pharmacists, psychologists, APRN’s, medics, corpsmen, EMT’s, etc.) in the highest regard. Obviously, first and foremost, their job…their calling, their passion is to save lives and provide their charges with a better quality of life. But it’s also about the vast amount of knowledge – anatomy, biochemistry, toxicology, hematology, virology, radiology, oncology, psychology, pharmacology – that they possess and their ability to fuse these complex disciplines into diagnoses and treatments. One day, I’m having lunch with a friend of mine who’s a doctor. He tells me how wonderful, how noble it is that I’m a Rabbi. I tell him, “Look, thanks, I appreciate it, but I can’t even hold a candle to what you do, to what you provide for folks.” He replies, “You […]

Why Construction Crews Wear Neon Shabbat Shalom! I pray this finds you all well. As true as it is, the expression “Experience is the best teacher,” is a pretty harsh and cold concept. In other words, it means that painful mistakes, embarrassing errors, unfortunate accidents, and regrettable actions are going to give us tangible and palpable lessons that we’ll never be able to forget. It’s sad, it’s frightening, and it’s incredibly heartbreaking, but there is a great deal of pragmatism, truth, and honesty to it. In this week’s parsha of Shemini (Leviticus 9:1-11:47), we see such a painful and tragic error play out. We read: “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before God alien fire, which had not been enjoined upon them. And fire came forth from God and consumed them; thus they died […]

Quick Rabbi’s note: Hi, Everyone – Shabbat Shalom Moadim L’simcha!    A quick apology!  Next week is actually Parsha Shemini…   …  This week is a special reading in honor of Pesach. (Exodus 14:30 – 15:21) (Haftarah II Samuel 22:1 – 51) My apologies for any confusion, but I do hope you find this D’var Torah meaningful, nonetheless! Wishing you a good Shabbos and a Happy Passover!  – Rabbi Aaron Sometimes Silence is Best Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach! I hope this finds you all well. I was very blessed with a phenomenal teacher and mentor during my time in Rabbinical school. I am forever grateful to him for his tutelage and friendship. Of all the nuggets of wisdom he shared with me, I’ll always remember a story he told me: there was a woman who had just lost her husband. They had been married for years and years and years. […]