Adam Simon

Today, after sundown, is Rosh Chodesh, the first day of the new Jewish month, and throughout the Jewish Mystical tradition today has been considered a “Yom Kippur Kattan – Mini-Yom Kippur”. No, I don’t expect you to fast, or go to shul (synagogue) or even go see your grandparents. What I want us to do

Today is Day 30! Let’s take some time to analyze the number 30 and what it can signify for our lives from a Jewish perspective… First of all, we need to look at numbers from the Jewish perspective. In Judaism, numbers do not exist on their own, they are all connected to and expressed by

We are told about Elisha the prophet (Kings II 3:15), “וְהָיָה כְּנַגֵּן הַמְנַגֵּן, וַתְּהִי עָלָיו יַד-יְהוָה – when the musicians played their music he felt the presence of God”. It is clear from this line that there is a very heavy spiritual power to music, in fact, we know that the Chassidic Masters over the

In parashat Va’era, after Abraham is recuperating from his circumcision, God comes to visit him and comfort him. Our ancient sages teach us that from this story we learn that it is a big deal to visit and help the sick. Why? Because, as we know, we are supposed to “love our neighbor as yourself”

Previously, we talked about going to beach and appreciating God’s awesomeness in the world. Today, I want to follow up on that idea. Like we discussed yesterday, the whole world is a beautiful thing that is worthwhile for us to enjoy. In fact, it was all created for us to enjoy and appreciate God’s awesomeness.

The Torah tells us (Deuteronomy 16:19), “וְלֹא-תִקַּח שֹׁחַד–כִּי הַשֹּׁחַד יְעַוֵּר עֵינֵי חֲכָמִים, וִיסַלֵּף דִּבְרֵי צַדִּיקִם – Don’t take bribes, because they blind the wise person and mess up the words of the just.” The literal understanding of this line is pretty straightforward, don’t take a bribe, pretty simple. However our ancient wise men taught us an

For the past three weeks on Friday we have been discussing how to better connect with your Judaism and God through the vehicle of shabbat. We outlined 4 categories of shabbat which we need to actualize in order to fully realize shabbat’s potential for connecting us. The first (and in my mind the most important) is enjoyment of shabbat. We have discussed this enjoyment in

Over the summer, Jews all over the world read a section from Isiah, the Shabbat on which it is read is called Shabbat Chazon – Shabbat of Vision, because it is the Shabbat before Tisha Be’av, our national day of mourning in honor of all Jewish tragedies, and on it we read Isiah’s vision of the beginning of all this tragedy. He tells

The Torah tells us (Exodus 23:5), “כִּי-תִרְאֶה חֲמוֹר שֹׂנַאֲךָ, רֹבֵץ תַּחַת מַשָּׂאוֹ, וְחָדַלְתָּ, מֵעֲזֹב לוֹ–עָזֹב תַּעֲזֹב, עִמּוֹ – If you see your enemy’s donkey that has collapsed from its load, do not pass by, you should help him.” Obviously, you aren’t going to be finding donkeys running around the streets, unless you are vacationing somewhere

Yesterday, we talked about waking up and appreciating what we have. Today, I want to carry on the theme of waking up and carry some of these ideas to the rest of your day. There is an ancient Jewish tradition, based on a verse written by King David (Psalms 26:6), “‘אֶרְחַץ בְּנִקָּיוֹן כַּפָּי;    וַאֲסֹבְבָה