Rabbi Levin's Blog

  The month of Elul is a special month.  Every day is a precious day that can be used to come closer to Hashem, to strengthen our Jewish connection, to transform our challenges to positives and to prepare for the great days of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the “Days of Atonement” in between.   Then within Elul itself, there are extra special days – the last twelve days of the month.  Our Sages tell us that each of those days corresponds to a month during the past year.  Beginning with the 18 th of the month, which corresponds to Tishrei, then the 19 th , corresponding to Cheshvan, etc.  Practically this means that each day we think back to how we spent that month, and how we can build on our successes and fix the things that need to be fixed.   This twelve day period begins this Monday,with the 18 th of Elul, which is itself a very exalted day.  Two of the greatest luminaries of all time were born on Elul 18.  The Ba’al Shemtov, founder of ...

  “When you make a vow to the Lord, your God, you shall not delay in paying it… [if you do, it will be counted as] a sin.  But if you shall refrain from making vows, you will have no sin. Observe and do what is emitted from your lips just as you have pledged to the Lord, your God, as a donation, which you have spoken with your mouth.” (Devarim 23:22-24.) The verses above refer to offerings committed to the temple and donations pledged to Tzedakah, (charity).  But in a broader sense, it applies to every vow and promise that we make.  We learn the importance of keeping our word, but are also instructed not to make vows in the first place.  You may have heard me and others say “Bli neder” – meaning “without a vow” when making a commitment.  This does not give us a free pass to ignore our commitments, but it does not bind our commitment with a vow.   A vow implies a special commitment to Hashem.  A person does not actually have to say “I vow” fo...

  Last Thursday, I went to the National Jewish Retreat in Palm Springs. This year, the annual event was held in a place with one of the hottest temperatures, but it was a good preparation for my upcoming trip to Phoenix, which is even hotter, for the bris of of my grandson, born to our daughter Devorah Leah and Chaim Leib Halbert. (Truth is, I wouldn’t really know what the heat was like because I spent the entire time indoors.) I went with a group of eight people from Palo Alto. We joined over 1,000 others in Palm Springs, spending close to a week learning, exploring life’s meaning, having great conversations, enjoying world class entertainment and - oh my gosh - the food! Close to 80 of the world’s top lecturers, teachers, and guides spoke on a wide variety of Jewish topics, from the relevance of Talmud to our lives, to the confluence of Torah and science, to the history of Jewish music, to how to pray, to wine tasting and Challah baking.  This was just the tip of the iceberg...

We don’t accept miracles.  Well, that’s not exactly true, of course.  The Torah is full of stories of miracles, and I believe that anyone who has an open mind can see miracles in their own life.  There are many miracles that we can point to in recent Jewish history, but that is for another time.   What do I mean by “we don’t accept miracles?”  We don’t accept miracles as proof that someone is speaking for Hashem, and we don’t legislate Halacha (Jewish law) based on miracles.  Well, what about all the miracles Moshe performed, you may ask.  Didn’t we believe in him as G-d’s messenger because of them?  Well, the answer is yes and no.  The miracles caught our attention and the people followed him into the desert, but that was not the ultimate proof that his words are the eternal words of Hashem.   As Rambam writes (Mishneh Torah, Yesodei Hatorah 7:1), the way we know that Moshe is truly Hashem’s messenger is because the entire Jewish nation...

  The unthinkable happened. 40 days earlier the Jewish people had seen the great revelation at Sinai and each of the millions of people present had heard the voice of Hashem saying “I am G-d… do not have any other gods before me.” Moshe was coming down from his 40 days on Sinai where he lived like an angel and received the unique gift of the two Tablets made by Hashem Himself and engraved with the words of the Ten Commandments. Imagine his horror when he saw the people worshipping a golden calf. He dropped the Tablets and they shattered into pieces. How low could the people fall? The great plan of taking a slave nation and turning them into Hashem’s ambassadors on earth, bringing morality, ethics, holiness and goodness to the world, seemed to have failed. In fact Hashem told Moshe that he would just wipe them out and make Moshe’s family a great nation in their place. But Moshe, the great advocate and lover of his people, was listening carefully and heard Hashem say: “Leave ...