It's been almost two months now, and the pain is still there. I do keep thinking that he hasn't really gone. The first words that we learn, or instinctively say - even before we have an understanding of our surroundings, are Mummy or Daddy - Abba or Ima. They are the comfort, the pillows (Kariot in Hebrew - and you just thought it was a tasty Israeli breakfast cereal!) that cushion us from pain. Without them, we are exposed and in pain. The Gemoro tells us that the child begins to call these...

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, or so it said. Ah...the ubiquitous apple. This expression is used to denote the way that our behaviours reflect the things that we learned from our home environment. Nature or nurture, we have traits which originate from the previous generation. Like it or lump it, we're stuck with it.  It is no accident, that this same fruit is the one borrowed by certain people - not of the Jewish persuasion - to express the rather depressing notion that we are...

Yes - deliberate misspelling. What is so special about the apple? In the UK, it is seen as a pretty regular fruit. Tasty, but ordinary. According to the translation that we will use today, the Tapuach is the apple. Vilified by many in its identity, yet its song is a sweet recall of the special relationship between Hashem and His beloved nation - taken from Shir Hashirim. When others were not interested in the responsibilities of what the Torah might demand of them, along came a downtrodden...

I would like to dedicate this podcast to our father ר' יהודה אריה בן ר' יצחק מאיר - הריני כפרת משכבו, as we reach the end of the Sheloshim period. Please feel free to listen and forward to as many people as possible. Anything positive gleaned from here, should be a merit for his Neshomo. (Anything else - blame on me). It is also the reason for the double length feature. We are about to discover some of the secrets of the date palm. Unique, in it being a member of both the 4 Minim of Succos,...

'I'm stuffed! I'm going to burst!' The phrases that we say when we are uncomfortably full... possibly because we couldn't resist the great food that was available...we feel like we are about to explode. Rimon - the fruit that appears stuffed with seeds, bursting with goodness... (Fun fact of the day - Rimon is a hand grenade in Modern Hebrew). What is the idea of the song expressed by the stuffed pomegranate? Fyi...a paper by a non-Jewish doctoral student of computer science at Columbia...

The song that the pomegranate sings is an interesting choice. Referring to the beauty behind the veil, the verse from Shir HaShirim hints to the modest humility of one who does need to show off. Their beloved knows of their virtues. When works on oneself on the inside, you need not say anything...the positivity can be seen on the outside too. What treasures lie within? Take a peek behind the veil...

It is often quipped, that it is unclear if choosing free will is determined, or accepting determinism is a choice... You may have heard the idea compared to a game of cards: The hand that you are dealt is comparable to determinism - you couldn't do anything about it. The way you play the hand...is in your hands. That is free will. There are obviously questions on the analogy. And there is an overlap with the nature/nurture debate - to which we have alluded. Essentially, however, as we have...

Teacher: 'Why did you shout out?' Student: 'He/she told me to...' or...  2) 'I can't help it, it's my nature' Teacher: 'Would you do that at home?' (Cheeky student - 'Yes'... Respectful student...eyes downcast and embarrassed) We're quick to blame - it could be home, peer pressure or our own personal characteristics...but perhaps there is a way to harness one's nature - understand how to channel it. Being aware of the fruits of my actions will allow me to nurture my nature...

The fig is a very interesting fruit. Sometimes seen as cheap in the Gemoro, it takes time to ripen, and spoils easily. It requires constant vigilance...or should we say figilance. Yet, it is one of a select few that is seen as a praiseworthy feature of the land of Israel. What is its secret? It's about time. Literally...

This Shiur is in memory of a great woman - Reizel bas Moshe. She should be a Meilitz yosher for us all, and her children should continue to be a source of Nachas for her. It's Shabbos Shira this week. Some will feed the birds - give these creatures of song a little taste of something. What is the secret of the song? Why do we sing by the Yam Suf?  We will see how when one puts the individual notes together - just like each individual grape  of the Gefen - the vine - is not worth much. But...

What is Tu Bishvat? A chance to sing happy birthday to the trees? We know we are not just tree huggers for the sake of it, so there must be more to it than that. The vine sings a song of togetherness. Isolated, we are as good as worthless. It is strength in numbers - not necessarily quantitatively, but in the nature of being together with others. We cannot do it alone. And when we can acknowledge this, it is the biggest blessing of all...

Part 2 of The Song of The Trees explores Hoshana Rabbo as a culmination of the Yomim Noraim, its relationship with Yom Kippur, Neila and its connection with our growing relationship with Hashem - as children, rather than servants. I dedicate this episode to the Woodlands people, where I originally 'wood' have said these words at Neila.

Chapter 3 begins with the song of the trees of the field. They sing of Hashem judging the world. What have trees got to do with justice? And what potential connection is there to the months of Elul and Tishrei - where we are told that 'the King is in the field?' The clue is in the familiar fact that we sing about our impending sentences for the coming year - serious, yet happy...tune in for the first installment of the message of the trees.

As the last few hours of the year pass; as the last day of Elul passes, it is time to reflect on the craziest year in most of our lifetimes. How has it been? Do we feel closer or more distant? What should we feel? Part of the secret may lie within the concept of Elul itself. Embedded in source after source, we need to explore what our task is over this period of time. The Gemoro In Bava Basra relates how Iyov suggested that he was suffering because, perhaps, Hashem mixed up Iyov with 'Oyev'...

'Such Gashmiyus!'  One of those annoying phrases you hear when you're tucking in to a particularly tasty piece of food....It's calculated to rile you - makes you feel guilty for enjoying the physical too much. But is it a crime? The Gemoro tells us that after 120 years, we will have to give an accounting for the physical pleasures that were permitted to us, and we did not partake thereof. A more careful examination will show us that a key part of our prayers is asking for rain -...

I wonder if you ever found yourself in a situation where you complained about something, and had the tables turned on you. You were the one charged with the mission to rectify the situation. Gulp - we might just retract that complaint.. It's one thing to complain. It is another to act upon that complaint. We find the paradigm of such a character in Shoftim. Unsurprisingly, Gidon became a Judge over the Jewish nation. His qualification? He cared. When he complained about not experiencing...

Apologies for my absence over the last few days. I’m back…Like the Rose of Jericho, when all seems dead, a little bit of water, and it’s back to life. I write these words as rain – the subject of the next song after the dew – is hammering down on the sun-drenched, sun-hardened, parched earth. This can cause flash floods. Not so with dew. Dew is always welcome. And always present. It is fresh, constant and used as a motif for unconditional blessing from Heaven by no less a personality than...

Have you ever held a resurrection plant? Perhaps you know it as a dinosaur plant? Or a Rose of Jericho? We have a small version of it at home – bought in a desert shop in Israel. A shriveled up flower on a rock. It can stay that way for years. But here comes the miracle. Add a few drops of water…4 hours later – a beautiful flower is in full bloom. You can get them online. Unless attached to something, they are blown about in the wind in the desert - a type of tumbleweed (though they are not...

Valentine’s Day? Absolutely Not! Barely heard of, and painfully misunderstood when it has been heard of, Tu B’Av is not Cupid drawing back his bow to fire the arrows of romance into the hearts of hopefuls. It has nothing in common with a whole mish-mash of a pagan fertility festival with the martyrdom of three saints (of whom one used to perform clandestine marriages – until he was caught). Nor has it anything to do with American gangsters – Al Capone and Bugs Moran, their rivalry or...

Do you know anyone called 'Menachem-Shilo-Yinon-Chanina'? You do? My bet is that they were born on Tisha B'Av. This would be the parents' attempt to ensure fame for their little 'Tzaddikel'. The truth is, since when are we so deterministic? If you don't have at least one of those names, then you can't be Moshiach? And if you were born on any of the other 353 days, then forget it? Obviously, this brooks further investigation. What is the significance of these factors? And why does it have to...

One of the interesting theories of the origin of the phrase 'to be on cloud nine' dates from 1896, when a certain Sir Ralph Abercromby was involved in the new grading of cumulonimbus clouds as a level 9 cloud. They are the densest and tallest of all clouds, producing rain and often called thunderheads. Tisha b'Av is a cloud on day 9 of the month in which Aharon - in whose merit we had the protective Clouds of Glory - died. And whilst it all seems hopeless, dark and threatening, day 9 is the...

‘I won’t use my broken arm as an excuse for why I lost the game. He was just better on the day.’ A well-worn, oft-used tactic employed by many… including us. In saying that we were second best on the day, we shifted the blame onto someone, or something else. ‘Mustn’t grumble!’ There’s another one. We are grumbling by saying that, or at the very least, implying the grumble. And perhaps the best and most common version – ‘No offence, but…’ . Enough said. By projecting the negative thoughts...

I asked my friend, “What’s the term for when you ask a question without expecting an answer?” He didn’t respond because it was rhetorical. I met a total stranger and mentioned the fact that I liked rhetorical questions. He said, "Who cares?" I said, "that's a classic!" Where would we be without rhetorical questions? Some questions remain unanswered because it’s too painful to answer them. Some questions remain unanswered because we really know the answers to them and they just don’t need to...

How often do we act as judge, jury and executioner? (Including whether the author of this podcast has given the correct spelling - judgment or judgement?) How often do we condemn colleagues, friends/former friends, bosses, leaders...and the list goes on. And when our chidren complain about someone else, we jump on the 'That's Loshon Hora' bandwagon, even when they are justified in telling us something. But we are righteously indignant...or are trying to find the easy road out... But where...