BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Today for my birthday - my friends were quite wonderful. But best of all was my children - who made and decorated a cake for me, did a magic show for me and got me thoughtful and lovely gifts that showed they have a tremendous amount of empathy and insight into their mother's character. I always worry that since my divorce as well as being disabled (and the disability is getting worse) I am not able to give my children what they want or be with them as much as they'd like. Of course those are my fears, not theirs. One of my children wrote this for me... it will be one of those MUST SAVE items every Mother has. After 12 years of infertility treatment, and then this particular child having severe 24 hr a day colic for 7 months - proved how worth it every single step of the way was.  And this child, after years of dreaming a big dream and very hard work - was accepted to Bronx Science . And what wonderful people my children are turning out to be. From my child, for my b...

by Rabbi Michael Berg In this week’s portion, we read about the uprising led by Korach and his follwers against Moshe. They were, as the Torah makes extremely clear, committing a grievous mistake. One of their contentions was against the priests headed by Aharon. Korach, who was a member of the Levite family just as Aharon, questioned why it was Aharon, Moshe’s brother, and Aharon’s family who were chosen to be the priests. Moshe decides on a way to show the entire nation that Korach and his 250 followers are mistaken: All that Moshe had done was only by Hashem’s command. “Moshe said to Korach, ‘You and your entire assembly come before Hashem, you and them and Aharon, tomorrow. Each one of you should take a fire-pan, and place on it incense, and you should bring it before Hashem, each person his fire-pan and you and Aharon should each bring a fire-pan. They each took their fire-pan, placed incense on it, and they stood at the opening of the Tent of Meeting (the Tabernacle), with Moshe ...