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Insight of the Week

Rabbi Joey Haber

Relevant weekly insights by Rabbi Joey Haber - delivered directly to your computer and/or mobile device

religion & spirituality judaism

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Sacrifice (From Last Year 2023)

Insight of the Week ·

2025/01/02

Parashat Vayigash tells of how Yaakov and his sons moved from Eretz Yisrael to Egypt. A terrible famine struck the region, and the only country which had food was Egypt, where Yosef was the ruler. After Yosef revealed himself to his brothers, who had come to Egypt to buy food, he told them to go back home and bring Yaakov and their families to live with him in Egypt, where he would support them. The Torah (46:28) tells that as Yaakov made his way to Egypt, he sent his son Yehuda ahead to "show the

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Regret (From last year 2023)

Insight of the Week ·

2024/12/26

Yosef's brothers arrived in Egypt to purchase grain, as they faced a harsh famine in the Land of Israel, leaving them and their families without food. They stood before the ruler of Egypt, the second-in-command to Pharaoh, not realizing that this was their brother, Yosef, whom they had sold to merchants as a slave many years earlier. Yosef proceeded to accuse them of coming to Egypt as spies, and demanded that they bring their youngest brother, Binyamin, to prove their claim, that they were brothers

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The “Optional” Hanukah Party (From last year 2023)

Insight of the Week ·

2024/12/19

The Shulchan Aruch ( Orah Haim 670:2) writes: ריבוי הסעודות שמרבים בהם הם סעודות הרשות, שלא קבעום למשתה ושמחה . The extra meals that people add [during Hanukah] are optional meals, because they [the Rabbis] did not institute them [these days] as [a time of] feasting and rejoicing. According to halacha , there is no obligation whatsoever to have special meals or eat special foods on Hanukah. The celebration of Hanukah starkly contrasts in this regard with the celebration of Purim, when there is a

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Living in Limbo

Insight of the Week ·

2024/12/12

The Gemara in Masechet Hagigah (5b) tells of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananiah, who was exceptionally effective in responding to the heretics of his time, those who worked to challenge Judaism and oppose the Jewish faith. When he grew old, and it was apparent that he would soon leave this world, the Rabbis approached him to express their concern over how they would deal with the heretics after his passing. Rabbi Yehoshua reassured the Rabbis by citing a pasuk (Yirmiyahu 49:7) indicating that when wise

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We are All Building Something Great! (Nov 2005)

Insight of the Week ·

2024/12/05

We read in Parashat Vayetze of Yaakov Avinu's arrangement with his father-in-law, Lavan, whereby he would work for seven years and then be given Lavan's daughter, Rachel, as a wife. As we know, Lavan deceived Yaakov, bringing Yaakov at the end of the seven years his other daughter, Leah, instead of Rachel. He then allowed Yaakov to marry Rachel a week later, on condition that he work for another seven years. The Torah makes a very surprising comment about the first seven years that Yaakov spent

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The Eternity Mindset (Nov 2023)

Insight of the Week ·

2024/11/28

What is the defining difference between us Jews and the surrounding society? There are several, but if I had to choose one, I would say: the tattoo. The most significant and fundamental difference between us and them is the tattoo. Why do I say that? True, tattoos are forbidden by the Torah, but so are cheese burgers. So why do I see tattoos as reflecting the defining difference between us and our society, rather than cheese burgers – or the many other things which they do which we don't?? The

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Thinking Long Term

Insight of the Week ·

2024/11/21

Parashat Hayeh-Sara tells of Avraham Avinu's efforts to purchase מערת המכפלה – the Machpeila Cave in Hevron, where he wished to bury his wife, Sara, who had just passed away. The territory of this special cave was owned by a man named Efron. After Efron first said that he would give the land to Avraham free of charge, he then turned to Avraham and said, ארץ ארבע מאות שקל כסף ביני ובינך מה היא – "What is a 400-shekel piece of land between us?" (23:15). Avraham immediately paid Efron this sum – 400

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Be an Avraham Jew!

Insight of the Week ·

2024/11/14

Parashat Vayera tells us the story of Lot, Avraham Avinu's nephew, who was living in Sedom, a city of very wicked people, and which Hashem condemned to annihilation. Hashem saved Lot by sending two angels to bring him and his family out of the city. Lot and his two unmarried daughters were saved, but his sons-in-law laughed at him when he told them the city was about to be destroyed. They remained in the city and were killed. To understand more about Lot and who he was, let us briefly look back at

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Being a Blessing to the World (Oct 2023)

Insight of the Week ·

2024/11/07

Parashat Lech-Lecha begins with Hashem speaking to Avraham Avinu and commanding, לך לך – to go forth from his homeland, and journey to an unknown place, which, of course, turned out to be Eretz Yisrael . Hashem promised Avraham that he would be showered with great blessings in his new land. What was true of Avraham, the founder of our nation, is true for each and every one of us, his descendants and bearers of his legacy. In order to bring blessing into our lives, we need to respond to the call of

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The Self-Confidence to Act (from Oct 2023)

Insight of the Week ·

2024/10/31

The Zohar tells of a conversation that took place between Noah and Hashem after the flood. Noah turned to Hashem and asked, "I thought You were a merciful, benevolent G-d. How could You allow such a thing to happen?!" Hashem replied by angrily calling Noah a רועה שוטה – "foolish shepherd." He said, "NOW you remember to care about the people?! I told you what I was planning on doing. I commanded you to build an ark because I was going to bring a flood that would destroy the entire earth. You spent

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Creating Ourselves

Insight of the Week ·

2024/10/23

The Torah tells that before Hashem created Adam, He announced, נעשה אדם בצלמנו כדמותנו – "Let us make man in our image and in our form" (Bereshit 1:26). Already the earliest commentators raised the question of why Hashem spoke here in the plural form – נעשה ("Let us make"). Of course, there was nobody for Him to talk to at this time. And even if there was, nobody created Adam besides Him. So why did He say נעשה , in the plural form? Rashi explains that Hashem was speaking here with the angels in

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Sukkot & Contentment

Insight of the Week ·

2024/10/16

One of the prophets, Habakuk (1:14), compared the human being to fish – ותעשה אדם כדגי הים . Rav Shlomo Alkabetz explains this analogy by noting that if one catches a large fish and opens it, he will see smaller fish in its stomach, as large fish eat small fish. Surprisingly, however, the small fish's bodies are in the opposite direction of the large fish. We would have assumed that the small fish run away from the large fish, and are then caught, so their bodies should be facing the same direction

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Changing the Intangibles

Insight of the Week ·

2024/10/09

If we look around, we will notice that many people – perhaps most people – are unhappy. There are people who have fulfilled many of their dreams. They got married, had children, bought a house, built a career or a business, but are disappointed and dissatisfied. The reason – or one of the reasons – for this is that many people look for happiness in the wrong places. They make the mistake of thinking that they will find happiness in the tangible things, such as a house, a car, vacations, clothes, and

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Rosh Hashana- Fighting Our Inner Foe

Insight of the Week ·

2024/10/02

One year on the second night of Rosh Hashanah, my son turned to me and said, "These simanim , the special foods we eat on Rosh Hashanah, are horrible! "Don't we want to have a good year, a happy year? So why are we eating this terrible stuff????" "Moshe," I said, "you have to understand – we're eating these things in order to destroy our enemies!" "So let our enemies eat this!!!!" he protested. "Moshe," I explained, "the enemy is us. We're eating these foods to destroy the enemy within ourselves."

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Crowning Hashem as King

Insight of the Week ·

2024/09/26

A quick review of the text of the Rosh Hashanah prayers shows us that the theme of this day is מלכות – Hashem's kingship over the world. This is the day when we crown Hashem as King over the universe, and we reaffirm our loyalty to Him as His subjects. Another theme that features prominently on Rosh Hashanah is עקידת יצחק – the story of Avraham Avinu's willingness to sacrifice his son in fulfillment of Hashem's command. We read the story of עקידת יצחק from the Torah, we mention it several times in

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Appreciating the Family We’ve Been Given

Insight of the Week ·

2024/09/19

Parashat Ki-Tavo begins with the mitzvah of bikkurim – the requirement that a farmer bring the first of his fruits that ripen each year to the Bet Ha'mikdash , and present them as a gift to a kohen . The Torah commands, ובאת אל הכהן אשר יהיה בימים ההם – "You shall come to the kohen who will be in those days." Rashi explains that the Torah adds the words אשר יהיה בימים ההם – "who will be in those days" – to teach us אין לך אלא כהן שבימיך כמו שהוא – "all you have is the kohen in your times, the way he

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The Art of Religious Life

Insight of the Week ·

2024/09/12

The story is told of a man who once approached a Rabbi and asked a question which we have likely all asked ourselves at one point or another, in some form or another. "Why does Hashem want me to perform mitzvot ?" he asked. "He already has angels, who are perfect, pristine creatures. I'm just a human being. I'm very flawed. I make a lot of mistakes. I do a lot of things wrong. What are my mitzvot worth?" The Rabbi replied by asking this fellow what he did professionally. The man said he was an

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Complacency Kills

Insight of the Week ·

2024/09/05

I was once in a post office, and started chatting with the fellow working there behind the counter. Over the course of our conversation, he mentioned that he had served in the Marines. "The Marines?" I said. "Wow, that's amazing." He said that he spent some time in Afghanistan. I asked how much time he spent there, and he said that he was there for seven months. He had been a Marine for many years, but he spent only seven months serving in Afghanistan. "Why only seven months?" I then asked. His

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Seizing Today’s Opportunities

Insight of the Week ·

2024/08/29

Parashat Re'eh begins with Moshe Rabbenu making the following pronouncement to Beneh Yisrael : ראה אנוכי נותן לפניכם היום ברכה וקללה. See that I am placing before you today a blessing and a curse. The commentaries explain that every day, Hashem gives us opportunities. Everything He gives us is another opportunity to serve Him, to do something meaningful, and to attain greatness. Everything our community has been blessed with – its shuls, its schools, its programs, its close-knit nature – is an

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Before You Swing the Bat

Insight of the Week ·

2024/08/22

n Parashat Ekev, Moshe Rabbenu commands the people that after they cross into the Land of Israel, they must remember what their lives were like in the desert. They must remember the miraculous existence that they lived – being fed by manna which fell from the heavens, drinking water supplied by a supernatural well which traveled with them, and wearing the same clothes and shoes, which never became worn. Moshe then warns the people that after they enter Eretz Yisrael , and after they till the land,

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