Shavuot is one of the only holidays that we are not really told why we are to celebrate it. It is a feast for sure in every sense of the word. It’s a great celebration that initiates the wheat harvest and concludes the Spring feasts of the LORD that started on Nisan 14 with Pesach. […]

Submitting to the “190” We’ve all heard the expression “He’s in hot water.” And all of us have been in hot water at one time or another. Furthermore – and I think it’s safe for me to say this – most of us don’t like it and do everything we can to avoid it! Nevertheless, […]

Yoda, Star Wars: The Last Jedi They just showed the latest Star Wars film here. This quote from it hit me hard. There are so many spiritual parallels to the biblical record in the Star Wars franchise: how we fight not against flesh and blood but against spiritual principalities in high places, the force being […]

Do you ever feel like your kids never get what you’re trying to teach them? Are you frustrated because you keep telling them what’s right and what’s wrong but they keep doing the wrong thing? If you’re a minister, do you feel like your congregation keeps going in circles and you can’t seem to get […]

The Second Law of Communication The second law of communication is: The way people learn determines how you teach. It’s not enough to decide that you’ll teach the way you learn or the way that’s most comfortable to you. In order to be an effective teacher, you must first discover what the best way is […]

How to be a better parent, teacher, and minister –The Law of Activity One of the biggest mistakes we make as teachers – and everyone is someone’s teacher – is that we forget what our main goal is. Sometimes we spend so much time speaking and doing our best to impress those we’re trying to […]

How to be a better parent, teacher and minister. A teacher’s job is to communicate, but doing so effectively often seems to be our biggest problem. The Latin word for communication is communism which means to have something in common. In other words, in order to communicate with those we’re trying to teach we need […]

How to be a better parent, teacher and minister. What is your goal when you’re trying to teach someone something? If you’re a minister, what are you trying to accomplish when your sermon is over? If you’re a parent who’s trying to teach your children how to navigate life and serve God, what does that […]

I know I say this a lot, but this week’s Torah portion is one of my favorites to talk about. This is the portion that’s all about something new. Adam lost the priesthood when he sinned in the Garden of Eden. Since then, every historical event of the Bible led up to the inaugural moment […]

This week’s portion is called Shemini, which means “eighth.” It comes from the opening part of this parsha where it talks about the priests being inaugurated on the eighth day. And although there is much to be said about that and how it’s connected to us being inaugurated as priests on the prophetic eighth day […]