Thinkingaboutme.org
9 years of Parasha articles.
THE ART OF MANAGING BEAUTY
click vayakhel 2022 for download THE ART OF MANAGING BEAUTY The Eshet Chayil is not a woman of strength, but of valor. Valor is strength of the mind, the ability to face danger and adversity with firmness, bravery and courage. A woman needs valor and courage to dress nicely but modestly, and that courage comes…
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Click terumah 2022 for download THE ART OF BEING A SQUARE G-d created a breathtaking world of patterns, symmetry, colors and shapes. Crown shapes can be found in a water splash, and stunning symmetry can be found in zebras, tigers, starfish and a zoomed-in image of a snowflake. The Nile is so snakelike; sand dunes…
Read MoreTHE ART OF SENSITIVITY
Click mishpatim 2022 to download THE ART OF SENSITIVITY I can never forget how, when I learnt a year in Mikdash Melech, we visited Hacham Ovadia Yosef zt”l before Pesach. A lot of the boys in the yeshiva were on a spiritual high from a winter of learning, and many looked at themselves as fanatical,…
Read MoreTHE ART OF COMMUNICATING STRUCTURE
click YITRO 2022 for download THE ART OF COMMUNICATING STRUCTURE Humans in general, and children in particular, need structure and routine in order to thrive. A home with no structure, a house without written rules and clear expectations is a house that is destined to become chaotic, destined for power struggles. Without rules and expectations,…
Read MoreTHE ART OF KICKSTARTING YOUR DAY
Click BESHALACH 2022 to download THE ART OF KICKSTARTING YOUR DAY The purpose of all Thinkingaboutme.org articles is to bring self-help from the parasha. I started writing with the belief my Rabbis taught me, when I started learning coaching 12 years ago: there is no such thing as a genuine self-help tool, that the Gentiles…
Read MoreTHE ART OF CHANGING YOUR MAZAL
Click Bo 2022 for download THE ART OF CHANGING YOUR MAZAL Mazal is something that, Judaism believes, has a big impact on your life. The root of the word “mazal” is “nozel”, which implies that your fate flows from Above, through the Mazalot. (Zohar; Radak) Your Mazal will determine how long you will live. It…
Read MoreTHE ART OF INTUITIVE INTELLEGENCE
click vaera 2021 to download THE ART OF INTUITIVE INTELLEGENCE One of the hardest things to understand about the Exodus story is – what was Pharaoh thinking? How did he have the emotional ability not to give in, after suffering such great plagues, each one worse than the next? The Torah answers that it was…
Read MoreTHE ART OF BEING A NOBODY
Click SHEMOT 2021 for download THE ART OF BEING A NOBODY Modesty is something that many praise, but few focus on. What a shame, because modesty is one of the main ingredients in being calm. Western culture teaches, and Hollywood preaches, to despise modesty. They teach that modesty and success are antonyms, while modesty and…
Read MoreTHE ART OF CHANGING THE WORLD
Click vayechi 2021 for download THE ART OF CHANGING THE WORLD There were people who changed the world forever, who saved, and keep saving, millions of lives, even after they are gone. The inventors of the three-point seat belt, vaccines, penicillin, the British mathematician who decoded the German military enigma code in WW2, the Russian…
Read MoreTHE ART OF OVERCOMING
Click vayigash 2021 for download THE ART OF OVERCOMING Parashat Vayigash is probably the most emotionally intense parasha in the whole Torah. And, I learnt about the most intense moment, only this year. At the climax of the story, Yehuda explains to his brother Yosef, who appears to be an intransigent Egyptian leader, how…
Read MoreTHE ART OF BEING AN IVRI
click miketz 2021 for download THE ART OF BEING AN IVRI R Shimshon R. Hirsh writes that the first prophecy in the Torah was יַ֤פְתְּ אֱלֹקים֙ לְיֶ֔פֶת וְיִשְׁכֹּ֖ן בְּאָֽהֳלֵי־שֵׁ֑ם Noach blessed his two sons, Shem and Yefet, with the following: May G-d expand Yafet, and may He dwell in the tents of Shem. The word…
Read MoreTHE ART OF SEEING THE LIGHT
Click vayeshev 2021 for download THE ART OF SEEING THE LIGHT Ever noticed how all of the parashiot of Sefer Bereshit, from Lech Lecha, the time G-d promised Avraham that his descendants would be going down to Egypt, until it actually happened – all begin with the letter Vav? (Except three). וירא, ויצא, וישלח, וישב, ויגש,…
Read MoreTHE ART OF BEING A FIGHTER
Click Vayishlach 2021 to download THE ART OF BEING A FIGHTER One of the strangest things that Yaakov ever did was to bow down to his brother Esav seven times. This was not just an ordinary meeting between two sibling rivals. This was symbolic of the meeting between the power of good, of light, of…
Read MoreTHE ART OF BEING ANGELIC
click Vayetze 2021 for download THE ART OF BEING ANGELIC I just got back from walking the streets of Manhattan for an entire week, helping my father-in- law fundraise for his Yeshiva, Yeshivat Beer Yitzhak, in Telshestone. When I got back to my apartment in Jerusalem, I asked myself, what is the difference between the…
Read MoreTHE ART OF BEING AN ESHET CHAYIL
Click chaye sara 2021 to download THE ART OF BEING AN ESHET CHAYIL One of the greatest things I ever taught was the explanation of Eshet Hayil. There are many explanations of the Eshet Hayil. It was written by King Solomon, at the very end of Mishlei. It could be explained as the soul, (Malbim)…
Read MoreTHE ART OF LIVING WITH G-D
Click lech lecha 2021 for download THE ART OF LIVING WITH G-D I am so lucky to be a teacher of dikduk. Mastering the basics is the pathway to mastering the bookshelf and kavvana in prayer, on a whole new level. One of the questions that bothered me for years is, what is the…
Read MoreTHE ART OF DOING YOURSELF A FAVOR
Click yom kippur 2021 for download THE ART OF DOING YOURSELF A FAVOR There was once a contractor, a man who build homes, until he was 65. From an early age, no one knew how to build homes like he did, so a very wealthy contractor hired him from the outset, and they had a…
Read MoreTHE ART OF BLOWING SHOFAR
click rosh hashana 2021 to download THE ART OF BLOWING SHOFAR The reason we blow the Shofar is so that G-d will remember for us the cries of Sarah, when she heard the news that her son Yitzhak had been sacrificed, and let it be an atonement for us. The sound of the shofar’s blast,…
Read MoreTHE ART OF SEEKING HELP
click ki tavo 2021 for download THE ART OF SEEKING HELP A fundamental of Teshuva, is that you can’t do it on your own. Your Yetzer Hara is much, stronger than you. Period. אלמלי הקב”ה עוזרו אינו יכול לו. )Kiddushin 30b)The amount that you damaged through sin, you can never fix, alone. Period. If…
Read MoreTHE ART OF FIGHTING THE YETZER HARA
Click ki tetze 2021 for download THE ART OF FIGHTING THE YETZER HARA The four parashiot of Elul have in them endless tools for change and Teshuva. Reeh – See that you have choice, more choices than you think. Shoftim- observe how much self-control you have and how honest and true to yourself you have…
Read MoreTHE ART OF INTERGRITY
CLICK shoftim 2021 FOR DOWNLOAD THE ART OF INTERGRITY People lie much more than they think. “I’ll be there in 5 minutes”, even though you did not even leave the house yet, and you know it will take you at least 8.5 minutes to get there. “I am careful with what I eat”, but that…
Read MoreTHE ART OF CRYING
Click devarim 2021 to download THE ART OF CRYING Parashat Devarim Three tears dripped from Esav’s eyes, when he realized how his brother Yaakov had taken the blessings that his father Yitzchak wanted to give him. One tear dripped from his right eye, one from his left, and the third, Thank G-d, didn’t leave his…
Read MoreTHE ART OF DEPENDENCE
click behar behukotay 2021 for download THE ART OF DEPENDENCE Behar Behukotay Sometimes we think that we go out of our way for other people. We give our money, our time, our energy, for other people. But in reality, the one who receives the most when giving is the giver. These last two weeks, I…
Read MoreTHE ART OF BECOMING THE BEST VERSION OF YOURSELF
Click acharei mot kedoshim 2021 for download THE ART OF BECOMING THE BEST VERSION OF YOURSELF Parashat Aharei Mot/ Kedoshim Parashat Acharei Mot, opens with the discussion of how Nadab and Avihu died while inappropriately entering the Mishkan, and how Aharon and all future Kohanim Gedolim are to serve on Yom Kippur in the…
Read MoreTHE ART OF OVERCOMING THE BEAST WITHIN
click tazriah metzorah 2021 for download THE ART OF OVERCOMING THE BEAST WITHIN Parashat Tazriah / Metzorah It has been said, that when you pray, you are talking to G-d, and when you learn Torah, G-d is talking to you. I would like to add to that. When you are praying, you are contemplating how…
Read MoreTHE ART OF FAITH
Click vayikra 2021 to download THE ART OF FAITH “Why do we drink four cups of wine on the Seder Night?” is a question to which most people have only one answer. The answer most people know is that the cups are correspondent to the four terms of redemption G-d promised Moshe. והוצאתי והצלתי וגאלתי…
Read MoreTHE ART OF FIGHTING YOUR YETZER HARA
Click vayakhel pekudei 2021 to download THE ART OF FIGHTING YOUR YETZER HARA Parashat Vayakhel Pekudei/ Passover Each year before Passover, there are so many things about Chametz I have a hard time understanding. Our Rabbis teach that the Chametz is what prevents us from serving G-d. (Berachot 17a) The Zohar writes in numerous places…
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