Recently, I sat with someone who had just come out of a bout with serious illness.  After the weeks and months of hospitalization, bed rest, medical therapy, my companion said to me: “Rabbi, all my life, I have been hesitant to visit people in the hospital or in their recovery.  And, now after enduring my own health challenges, I now understand how misguided I have been.  Because you see, Rabbi, I watched as my friends and even some of my family became me – how they hesitated and avoided visiting me in the hospital, or even at home.” Read more...

Each year, the Torah repeats the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and each year I am puzzled by the same thing: why did Lot delay leaving the city, why did Lot’s wife look back, and why did she turn into a pillar of salt?   Read more...

Idolatry is the practice of treating something of relative importance as though it were of ultimate significance.  In our idolatrous age, we often act as though money, careers, sex appeal or prestige are of ultimate importance, when in fact, they are only worthwhile to the degree that they can contribute to our becoming better, more compassionate and more responsible people.   Read more...

It’s one of the most poignant moments in the Torah’s earliest narratives. Abram’s nephew, Lot, is now dwelling in the town of Sodom. He is prosperous and busy, and one imagines him thinking that he is a prominent member of the community. Out of the blue, he receives visitors who turn out to be angels sent to announce the impending destruction of Sodom because of the wickedness of the town’s inhabitants. Read more...

Idolatry is the practice of treating something of relative importance as though it were of ultimate significance.  In our idolatrous age, we often act as though money, careers, sex appeal or prestige are of ultimate importance, when in fact, they are only worthwhile to the degree that they can contribute to our becoming better, more compassionate and more responsible people.   Read more...