Rabbi Levin's Blog

Last week I heard from many friends who were concerned about losing a lot of money.  I have been thinking this week about what lesson can be learned from a bank’s failure.   The Baal Shem Tov (the saintly founder of the Chassidic movement) said that everything we see or hear teaches us a lesson in our service to Hashem.  Certainly this is true from a catastrophic event which affects so many people and dominates the headlines. When the 2008 big financial crash happened, a person came to me to lament the loss of three million dollars, and to express with great regret: “I could have given it to Tzedakah!”   This statement has been sitting with me ever since.  Had he given the money to Tzedakah, he would likely not only have survived the downturn, but that  $3M sum would have been in his spiritual bank account forever.  As our Sages taught, and as we have seen over the millennia, he would have reaped many material blessings too. There is a fascin...

I hope you enjoyed Purim as much as I did. It was such a great pleasure to see our team of Rabbis and Rebbetzins, along with our staff and many volunteers, bring the joy and the Mitzvot of this great happy day to so many hundreds of people. Now it’s time to prepare for Pesach. If you need hand baked Shmurah Matzah (the fresh stuff) or a Haggadah or a Seder we are here for you. Let’s talk about a Golden Calf. The story really sounds strange. The Jewish people had just had a revelation from Hashem Himself, seen great wonders and miracles and heard His voice saying the Ten Commandments, and they thought an animal made out of gold could be a god?  The whole thing doesn’t make sense that smart people in that situation would go for a molten god. Now we are taught that there were idol worshippers among them that still held onto their old ways. These were Egyptians who had joined the Jews when they left Egypt, known as the mixed-multitude. They were the ones who started the whole thing. We...

What is the name of the Jewish People?  Throughout the Torah, we are called “Bnei Yisrael,” the children of Israel.  We always used to joke in school, what about the adults?  But we are called that because we are descended from our forefather Yisrael, which is Yaakov’s other, greater name.  We are also occasionally referred to as Bait Yaakov – the house of Yaacov, or Yeshurun.   It is striking, therefore, that throughout the book of Esther, which we will read on Monday, Purim evening and again during the day on Tuesday, the Jews are referred to as Yehudim – Judeans.  (This is apparently where the word “Jew” comes from.)   I think that the surface explanation of why the name Yehudim is used is the following:  The Jewish nation was divided into two parts, one kingdom, known as the Kingdom of Israel, in the north of Israel, and the Kingdom of Judea in the South, including Jerusalem.   The Kingdom of Israel had been overrun and exi...