Guest Columnists

There is no such thing as “feeling like a nothing” for those who are spiritually alive and growing.

Does the mitzvah count if you scrupulously perform the physical details but without feeling?

Difficult doesn’t mean bad, opposition isn’t the enemy, and challenge is more often than not the best that could happen to you.

Why would an infinite, all-knowing, omnipotent G‑d wish for people to offer up animal sacrifices? It seems to be a pointless waste of resources and needless dispensing of life.

In the titular opening word of the third book of the Torah - Vayikra (Leviticus), the Aleph is small. What is the signifigance of this small Aleph?

Choose your inner thoughts. Quiet your brain and your soul. Be present and open to the miracle embedded in every single moment.

An animal does what it does, it makes no choices, it makes no mistakes. Lions eat zebras and raccoons knock over garbage pails. We can be annoyed but never angry with them. We must never be raccoons.

My father had lots of rules. Some of them I understood, and some of them I didn't understand

When given an opportunity to earn more dollars, few people will say, “Why bother? I can manage with the bare necessities.” Why would the spiritual quality of life be any less important?

The commandment to place salt on every sacrifice is repeated three times. Why so much emphasis?

With all its gory detail, this is a book about love.

Although the monetary value of the meal offering can not be compared to that of an animal sacrifice, the amount of physical and spiritual effort that went into this act for this particular person is priceless...

For the moment, my heart overflows with pride as I witness her burgeoning independence, her sense of self. I know that in a few months or years from now, these traits may not always seem so endearing, but for now, I kvell.

If you hurt someone’s feelings as a result of a mere slip of the tongue, presumably there is nothing to be sorry for. Presumably it “meant nothing.” Unless, of course, unconscious gestures are even more meaningful than conscious ones.

"Leviticus deals with the various aspects of holiness. Holiness is found in all of the book’s subjects, in the major principles as well as in the small particulars"