This week’s Torah portion is Shemini, which discusses the animals that are kosher and chew their cud and have split hooves, and the animals that have one sign or the other and are not kosher. The Lubavitcher Rebbe says this portion is a proof to those who doubt that the Torah is given by the Almighty. Up until this day, there have never been any other animals found to contain these signs exept those enumerated in the Torah.

We are just emerging from the holiday of Passover, our festival of freedom. But freedom from what?  We were freed from Egyptian slavery thousands of years ago and we became  Jewish nation. But we are still in exile. We do not yet have the redemption.  What are we actually celebrating on Passover?

Recently the supreme court in Israel ruled that non Jews who convert through reform or conservative also are to be considered Jewish.  This is exactly what the Lubavitcher Rebbe cried about over thirty years ago: the issue of “mihu Yehudi” , who is a Jew.  The Torah clearly says that only a non Jew who coverts through orthodox Judaism and adopts a Torah observant lifestyle can be considered a true and sincere Jew.  For a non Jew to want to use the name “Jew” as

In Adar we must increase in joy, as we mentioned before.  In general, serving the Almighty with joy is a Torah directive. In fact, if we are lacking happiness in our service of G-d, exile is the result, as the Torah says “As you did not serve G-d, your G-d, with joy and good heartedness”.

So we are entering  the Hebrew month of Adar , the month where we must increase in joy .  “Mishenichnas Adar marbim b’simcha.”

Is America truly a democratic country anymore?  With the rise of the leftists to power, America is now becoming, effectively, almost a communist style regime.   It is not really democractic or republican anymore.  Why do I say that? Because , although we are still a capitalistic country, capitalism is now only relevant for the wealthy.

Most parents are in the habit of rewarding children with material things like candies. Although for small children such rewards are necessary in teaching them proper behavior etc., it is still wise if we try to reward children with things of greater spiritual value. Then they learn to appreciate spiritual matters, give importance to that and not feel they need to comfort themselves or reward themselves with materialism, even as they grow older. What we see in western society is that even adults feel they deserve a treat, or chocolates, or extra cake etc.

Every person sometimes has doubts in faith. We are only human: this is normal . 

But, there is a person who uses doubts to seek his creator and turn his eyes and heart to the heavens, and then his faith grows stronger.

And there is a man who takes advantage of doubts to justify his distance from  God and focuses on his heart's desires and personal desires, and the more time passes, the less he believes.

Yesterday I drove by a sign that said “recycling and redemption” and I thought to myself: we are all “recycled souls” (from a previous incarnation) and we are on the way to redemption.  And truthfully that is what life is all about: correcting our past lives (tikunim) and preparing for redemption.

In life we learn from others. The people who shape our lives the most when we are young are our parents.  We learn in two ways from our parents, and in both cases we need to appreciate them and be grateful.