Inspirational Torah

Shalom from Rabbi Yonatan! This week the video D'var Torah was   shot at Yemin Moshe, the first Jewish neighborhood built outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem in 1860, on a hill directly across from Mount Zion.   This week we read  Parshat Tzav ;  [beginning of Leviticus chapter 6]. This week is also  Shabbat HaGadol ! The "Great Shabbat" that precedes the holiday of Passover. Traditionally a long sermon is given in the afternoon of this Shabbat to discuss the  halakhot  (laws) relating to the upcoming festival. There is even a tradition to begin reading the Haggadah on this Shabbat afternoon! For those of you who are interested in reading the Torah texts that I mentioned or quoted in the video, I have included them below! Shabbat Shalom! Rabbi Yonatan ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Leviticus chapter 6 1  And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2  Command Aaron and his sons, sa

Shalom from Rabbi Yonatan. This week I chose to present you with a short video Torah thought rather than a long written blog. Merav, my beautiful and brilliant spouse, shot this at the Kornmehl Goat Farm near Sde Boker in the Negev desert of Israel. (I inadvertently said Sderot in the clip, but definitely meant Sde Boker!) This place is very special and you would have to know that it exists in order to find it! It barely has a sign on the road blending into the desert landscape and you have to do some off-road driving to make it up the hill to arrive at this quaint little spot. The highlight is the little restaurant and cheese/dairy shop on the extremely isolated desert hill. I recommend their incredible goat cheese pizza, which they make from their very own goats! (all of their dairy products are hormone and antibiotic-free) Photo Gallery from the Kornmehl Goat Farm   Say...(Goat) Cheeeezzzz Pizza! For those of you who enjoy my normal text stud

Holy Cow!  It's Shabbat Parah! Ridding Ourselves of Useless Guilt Parshiot: Shemot,  Vayakhel/Pekudei Maftir: (Bamidbar/Numbers 19 (1-22) Haftarah: Ezekiel 36 (16-38) (16-36 for Sefardim) Do you suffer from pangs of guilt or shame? Do even really old memories bog you down and leave you feeling guilty or ashamed? What can you do about it? First, we all need to realize that nursing our "regrets" and being stuck in a place of guilt or shame stands in our way of serving our holy purpose in this world and that untreated guilt or shame continually works to extinguish the holy spark in our neshama (soul). You probably think that Rabbi Yonatan forgot what time of year this is, sounds like a homily for Yom Kippur! But don't forget that according to the Torah, the first month of the year (Rosh Hashanah) is only about a week away! It is what we now call the Hebrew month of Nissan, the month of Passover, the month of Spring (in Israel) and a time of new beginn