Asking others for help doesn't make you seem weak; It makes them feel valued. Avodah: To Work and to Serve The word avodah is full of meaning. Simply it means both service (of G-d - particularly with respect to prayer and Temple service) andwork, labor. The first time the term avodah appears in the Torah is in Bereishis 2:5. The Torah describes the state of the world just before its greenery appeared. The trees, plants and grasses were ready to burst through the outer layers of the earth's surface, but they had not yet done so. The ear..

Ibn Ezra Devarim 8:3 Obesity is inappropriate for a Ben Torah Obesity (other than when clinically induced) reflects a lack of control that is incongruent with the personality of a Torah Jew. Obesity is America’s biggest health challenge. But obesity is not only about health. In the UK too, more than 50% of young boys will be dangerously overweight by 2050.[1] But obesity is about more than lifestyle. We overeat[2] because we have lost the balance of spiritual and physical nourishment. This loss of balance and its manifestation in obesity occurs as much in our religiou..

We need to make good choices based on the information we have and the values we believe in. But we need to know and accept that the real purpose of the choices we make might be very different from the reasons we made those very choices. Yoseif, the first management consultant Last week, in Parshas Vayishlach, Yaacov prepares for the possibility of war with his brother Eisav. He prepares gifts for Eisav, sends messengers to appease him and then still divides his family into two camps in the hope that at least one would escape to safety if the other were attacked. Even though Yaacov trus..

    Even very great leaders have had downfalls because they were not conscious of their own blind spots. But only very occasionally is a leader's blind spot the result of his spiritual purity rather than his frailty. Impaired vision How is it possible that a giant of Yitzchak's stature with all his wisdom, ruach hakodesh and insight, was hoodwinked by his son Eisav and daughter-in-law, Yehudis? And if he was not hoodwinked by their idol worshipping (Rashi 26:35 and Midrash Rabba 65:4), why did he not intervene to stop it? The Torah's suggested answer (27:1) ..

  Brit and Shabbat Why, asks the Midrash (D.R. 6:1), doesBrit Milah (The covenant of circumcision) take place specifically on the child’s eighth day? The reason given by the Midrash is that Hashem applied mercy to him (the infant), to wait for his Brit Milah "ad sheyehei bo kocho" – simply translated: until he has his strength. We will revisit this translation a little later. What strength does an infant gain at  eight days? The Zohar (3:91) explains that the reason for the eighth day timing of a Brit is to ensure..

Avraham, the master innovator, shows us how to inspire people to change, and how to use business as a vehicle for this inspiration. Inspire Change Only if you truly inspire others (your children, employees, students or strangers) might you genuinely change their behaviors, attitudes or assumptions. Merely challenging them to change or even incentivizing them to change just intimidates them and doesn't cut it, nor does appeasing them with love and connection. In the work environment 84% of employees (globally) feel coerced because they are managed with the fear of conseque..

Goodness and Straightness Goodness and straightness are two different ethical ideas. Being good, is doing something on a microcosmic level, something that may be small and very local, yet it has universal, macrocosmic benefit. Beingstraight is different. Both in our Parsha (12:28) and in Va’etchannan (6:18) the wordsYashar (straight) and Tov (good) are phrased together. In ourParsha, after warning us about the severity of eating blood, even the droplets of blood contained in meat that has not been properly slaughtered and prep..

The natural and the supernatural The idea of miracle covers a spectrum of event-types. On the one end of the spectrum some miraculous events seem to be quite natural and on the other end we call supernatural events miracles. I just had the thrilling privilege of being the Sundek at my grandson's bris in Israel. The birth of a perfect little child is always a miracle, but it is natural. What happened with the oil that burnt in the Beis Hamikdash eight times longer than it should naturally have burned was a supernatural miracle. On that first Chanukah in the time of the Maccabees ..