Sometimes a task seems too difficult, daunting, or incongruent with our personality that we elect to be passive. We may garner some motivation for action from phrases such as “fake it till you make it,” but still feel resistant because we feel inauthentic or disingenuous to make it by faking it. In one of the most popular Ted Talks and in her bestselling book “Presence: Bringing your Boldest Self to your …
The Mishna toward the top of amud aleph mentions that King Chizkyahu hid the Book of Remedies. Most of the commentaries such as Rashi understood Chizkiyahu’s deed as follows: There existed a book of cures, herbs and the like amongst the Jewish people, passed down as an ancient tradition from Solomon. Almost every ancient indigenous culture had oral and written traditions of various herbal remedies, many of them being rediscovered today as e …
The Mishna (55b) describes several irregular practices of the people of Jericho, some that the sages specifically objected to, while others tolerated. One custom was that they would “fold Krias Shema”, which according to some explanations, meant they would say the first sentence “Hear O Israel etc”, and the second sentence “And you shall love Hashem etc”, consecutively without inserting “Boruch Shem kvod …
Confronting the Less Popular Sexual Sins: A Shovavim Plea
Sexual sins are possibly the most interesting of sins. There are few transgressions more titillating, more shamed, and more taboo than those having to do with succumbing to desires of the flesh.
During this time of the Jewish calendar, some communities have a custom to focus on atoning for sins in the realm of sexual immorality. Some examples I’ve heard are reviewing th …
The Gemara quotes one of my favorite pesukim of all time. It is found in Mishle (20:5):
מַ֣יִם עֲ֭מֻקִּים עֵצָ֣ה בְלֶב־אִ֑ישׁ וְאִ֖ישׁ תְּבוּנָ֣ה יִדְלֶֽנָּה׃
The designs in a man’s mind are deep waters, But a man of understanding can draw them out.
Many commentaries such as Ibn Ezra, Alshich and Malbim note the process described in this verse. The ideas and wisdom in one …
One of the first and most central interventions to help manage difficult emotions is deep breathing. When we feel intense emotions, such as anxiety, depression, or anger, our bodies tend to react physiologically by taking shorter and shallower breaths. By counteracting those quick and narrow breaths with a deeper breath, we increase the supply of oxygen to our brains, stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system, and signaling to our bodies tha …
