by Rabbi Shaps | Jul 29, 2021 | Rabbi Zischa Shaps, Va'eschanan, Weekly Parsha
You would think that if everyone followed the laws of the Torah, Hashem would be pleased and all would be good. Yet, the Talmud in Bava Metzia 30b teaches that Rabbi Yochanan said “Jerusalem was destroyed because people judged based on Torah Law”. The Gemara...
by Rabbi Altonaga | Jul 8, 2021 | Rabbi Michael Altonaga, Uncategorized, Weekly Parsha
What are your priorities? It feels like there are a hundred things pulling us in different directions every day. Our boss, our parents, our friends, that guy arguing with us on Facebook… Where do we put our energy? How do we...
by Rabbi Altonaga | Jun 11, 2021 | Korach, Rabbi Michael Altonaga, Weekly Parsha
Mudslinging in politics is nothing new. Unfortunately, it has been going on since as long as there have been unscrupulous politicians. If you attack someone’s character, you can show that he is not fit to rule, which naturally leaves an opening for...
by Rabbi Altonaga | May 14, 2021 | Bamidbar, Rabbi Michael Altonaga, Weekly Parsha
Times are tough right now. The pandemic still rages in Ontario, grinding the health system to a crawl. Unexpected tragedy occurred in Meron, leaving dozens of young healthy people dead. Rockets fly over Israel and riots march in it’s...
by Rabbi Altonaga | Apr 16, 2021 | Rabbi Michael Altonaga, Tazria, Weekly Parsha
At NASA, when an endeavor 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...
by Rabbi Altonaga | Mar 19, 2021 | Rabbi Michael Altonaga, Weekly Parsha
“Give it your all!” “Do your best!” “Put your heart and soul into it!” When I was a kid in sports, my coaches and parents always told me these things. Pretty powerful messaging if you think about it. To give everything you...
by Rabbi Altonaga | Jan 22, 2021 | Rabbi Michael Altonaga, Weekly Parsha
What was the worst pandemic in history? How do you think COVID stacks up to other types of plagues that people have faced? The 10 plagues in Egypt are a microcosm of the types of plagues out there. One particularly interesting plague on that list is the...
by Rabbi Gewirtzman | Jan 21, 2021 | Rabbi Kasriel Gewirtzman, Weekly Parsha
D’var Torah by Rabbi Kasriel Gewirtzman In this week’s Torah portion, it says: “It is the same Aharon and Moses towhom the LORD said, “Bring forth the Israelites from the land of Egypt, troopby troop”. Rashi says on this verse that in some places the Torah mentions...
by Rabbi Shaps | Jan 21, 2021 | Rabbi Zischa Shaps, Weekly Parsha
D’var Torah by Rabbi Zischa Shaps What defines someone as “Great”? In the Torah world we refer to a leader as a Gadol. Someone who is great. Theword Gadol has a number of meanings. We use it to mean large or big. We use it tomean great and we also use it to refer to...
by Rabbi Altonaga | Dec 25, 2020 | Rabbi Michael Altonaga, Weekly Parsha
If you could be the Prime Minister, would you do it? What would you do with your new power? Would you leverage your situation to ensure that your family also got similar positions? When Joseph invited his family down to Egypt, Pharaoh heard about it and...
