Mifrasim מפרשים : Navigating our Lives as Role Models, Educators, Parents and Jews

The Toxicity of Toxicity:  The Too Frequently Used Qualifier is  Taking our Sacred Values off of the Table After reading last week’s piece in the Atlantic, Why Empathy Is Now ‘Toxic,’it gave me pause.  Now, we can add one of the most important traits and values that we hold dear, empathy, to the list of words that we have to be careful of, and that we have to qualify, before embracing. We already know that “toxic” is making its way around. There can be toxic productivity. There can be toxic positivity and there can also be toxic masculinity where each of these traits can be taken to the extreme. But this idea is not new.  Long before our time, although he did not use the word toxic, Aristotle in his Nicomachean Ethics, talked about the dangers of taking things too far.  He wrote: "Every virtue carried to the extreme, is a vice and "Virtue is the golden mean between two vices, the one of excess and the other of deficiency.. The Rambam also echoed this concept whe...

  Living, Learning, Dancing and Crying with a Sacred Camera and a Holy Anchor This summer, once again, I was privileged to take some time to focus on my professional development and went to Israel, for, what one colleague called “the un conference”. As we all know, when entering some professional conferences there is an unstated rule that one is supposed to put on their professional armor. Bring your business cards, your laptops, you chargers, and be ready to talk shop.   But, deep in the hills outside Yerushalayim at Yeshivat Mekor Chaim, there were no desks, no power chords, no lanyards, no clock on the wall. Just a pen, paper and a circle of chairs and 20 other educators who are inspiring and inspired to grow and learn. This was the Linfai V’Lifnim conference where for 6 days you are challenged to dig deep into your soul and find the language of your heart to connect best to yourself. To others. To your students, to Torah and to God. (Learn more about it here ) At Lif...

 A Message to the Class of 2026 - To Embrace Joy and To Embrace Family Bzchut Rabbi Lookstein, Dr. Wasserman, Members of the Board, Parents, Grandparents, Friends, and of course, the Class of 2026! Before I begin, I want to acknowledge our extraordinary Upper School administration, faculty, and staff.  Thank you for the knowledge you impart, the guidance you provide, the values you model, and the unwavering support you offer our students each and every day.    To our Senior Management Team and all of the educators from 85th to 78th street, this graduation isn't just a milestone for the seniors; it is a tribute to the collective devotion of so many of you who have had a part in shaping these graduates.  And now to the amazing Class of 2026.  From the moment I walked into the doors of Ramaz, I knew that this was no ordinary group of students. You are scholars, athletes, singers, house builders, robot operators, mathematicians, daveners, Torah teachers, mishma...

To Count a Measure: Lessons of the Omer from the Desert As we head into the home stretch of the Omer, it is important to remember that when we count the Omer, we are not counting objects, when we say the bracha, we say that we are counting a measurement. We are literally saying we are commanded to count somewhere between 2 and 2.5 liters..  We are not counting the tenufah, the wave offering.  We are not counting the seorah, the barley.  Why count the measurement that Am Yisrael had to offer? Why not the actual object?  Rabbi David Hofstetter in his book Doresh David brings up this very question and shares a beautiful midrash from the Tanchuma..  Vayikra Rabba 28:3 אָמַר רַבִּי בֶּרֶכְיָה, אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְמשֶׁה לֵךְ אֱמֹר לָהֶם לְיִשְׂרָאֵל כְּשֶׁהָיִיתִי נוֹתֵן לָכֶם אֶת הַמָּן הָיִיתִי נוֹתֵן עֹמֶר לְכָל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד מִכֶּם, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב (שמות טז, טז): עֹמֶר לַגֻּלְגֹּלֶת , וְעַכְשָׁיו שֶׁאַתֶּם נוֹתְנִים לִי אֶת הָעֹמֶר אֵין לִי אֶלָּא...

Shuvu:  Self Reflection on the Holiday of the Birth of our Nation: Prompts for Conversation at the Pesach Seder One of the prompts I always give my students in our advisory sessions, is “concerned/not concerned.” We go around and gauge ourselves about the things that are both worrisome and things that are not.  This year, as a Jew I am feeling blessed. I am not sure if anyone had told us that this Pesach that there would be no Gaza war and no hostages left in Gaza, we would have believed it. This is a true peleh and nes, a true wonder and miracle. It is something that when I pause to think about, I am almost in tears.  And, at the same time, needless to say, there is much to be concerned about. Our brothers and sisters in Israel are under fire, our young people are on the front lines of the IDF fighting and anti semitism continues to rise. Here on the home front, political divisiveness, economic challenge and war cloud our every day.  So, heading into Pesach this yea...

Sacks 6/7:6 or 7 Insights by Rabbi Sacks in the Coming Parshiyot Yitro, Mishpatim, Terumah Every week or so, depending on the Parsha, I will share 6 or 7 insights from Rabbi Sacks that stuck out to me and will inspire us in the coming week or weeks. Wishing everyone meaningful and sweet Shabbatot–Shabbat Shalom! Insight #1 - יִתְרוֹ-The Original Barukh Hashem  (Ex:18:10 p. 517) ‎בָּרוּךְ יְ-ה Blessed be the LORD – The quintessential Jewish expression of thanks, gratitude, and acknowledgment is barukh Hashem, meaning “thank God” or “praise be to the LORD.” Ḥasidim say of the Baal Shem Tov that he would travel around the little towns and villages of Eastern Europe, asking Jews how they were. However poor or troubled they were, invariably they would reply, “Barukh Hashem.” It was an instinctive expression of faith, and every Jew knew it. They might have lacked the learning of the great talmudic scholar, or the wealth of the successful, but they believed they had much to thank God for,...