by Rabbi Altonaga | Jul 31, 2025 | Rabbi Michael Altonaga, Tisha B'Av
It was just another day in the room that was a hurricane of toys. My baby once again had the gall to play with his older brother’s toy. My toddler decided, that today was the day that he took matters into his own hands. He walked confidently over to his baby...
by Rabbi Altonaga | Jul 24, 2025 | Mattos, Rabbi Michael Altonaga, Weekly Parsha
Our Sages say that there is a secret 42 letter Name of G-d that is only told over to a select few who are modest, humble, and otherwise stellar in their character traits. That name of G-d is so holy, so powerful, that they worried about publicizing it’s...
by Rabbi Altonaga | Jun 6, 2025 | Naso, Rabbi Michael Altonaga, Weekly Parsha
My eldest son heard a recording of his voice and thought my phone was broken. “That’s not what my voice sounds like!” he exclaimed, in the exact same tone of voice that had just emanated from the device. It’s an interesting phenomenon that we don’t...
by Rabbi Altonaga | May 1, 2025 | Rabbi Michael Altonaga, Tazria, Weekly Parsha
At NASA, when an endeavour is unsuccessful, they don’t call it failure, they call it “an early attempt.” There are two sides of this coin that make it such an effective methodology. 1. Wallowing in failure never helped anyone. If you let...
by Rabbi Altonaga | Apr 18, 2025 | Passover, Pesach, Rabbi Michael Altonaga
At the beginning of Passover, we told our children: בַּעֲב֣וּר זֶ֗ה עָשָׂ֤ה יְהֹוָה֙ לִ֔י בְּצֵאתִ֖י מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃ … …because of this, Hashem did for me and took me out of Egypt. -Shemos 13:8 The simple reading is that this is an explanation for the...
