by Rabbi David Levin | Feb 2, 2025 | Blessings, Teaching
And He lived…Vayechi is a misnomer. The chapter that opens with And He Lived is actually the final moments of Jacob’s life. Jacob is on his deathbed, surrounded by his sons. He offers frank assessments of them and blessings of a kind as he prepares to die. Indeed,...
by Rabbi David Levin | Feb 14, 2020 | Blessings, Teaching
It’s National Be Nice to In-Laws weekend! There is a wonderful commercial on the airways. The “Good Hands” insurance folks have Tina Fey driving with her mother-in-law, aka Mayhem, portrayed by Dean Winters. It is a caricature of the tensions intrinsic in this...
by Rabbi David Levin | Nov 20, 2019 | Chesbon HaNefesh, General, Teaching
“And the life of Sarah was 100 years and twenty years and seven years, the years of the life of Sarah”. It would be easier to say she died at the age of 127. But we would miss an important message. The text seems to ask us to examine Sarah’s life, not...
by Rabbi David Levin | Oct 25, 2019 | General, Teaching
The tragic murder of 11 people one year ago in Pittsburgh is a harsh reminder that hatred is real and we are not always in control of events. Things often happen to us. As painful, hurtful, or even devastating as something can be, how we react is in our control. ...
by Rabbi David Levin | Aug 3, 2018 | Blessings, Chesbon HaNefesh, Teaching
This week in Parashah Eikev, Moses teaches and shares his Ethical Will. He admonishes us to live a full life and to do that we need to remember and embrace the precepts that have brought us to this time and place, the edge of the Promised Land. Moses’ is concerned...
by Rabbi David Levin | Jul 24, 2018 | Chesbon HaNefesh, General, Teaching
In going through my dad’s things, I came across an old Pepsi soda can from the 1960s. It had clay surrounding it. Old dried and yellowed bands of once clear tape were barely keeping the brittle shards together. The clay was painted faded hues of what was once...
