Rabbi’s Blog
A weekly message from Rabbi Cantor Menachem Mirski, Ph.D.

Category Sermons

W tym dniu stajemy przed Bogiem jako jeden człowiek.

Refleksja na Jom Kippur 5781.

W okresie Wielkich Świąt, w szczególności zaś w Jom Kipur, zastanawiamy się nad naszymi przewinieniami, moralnymi działaniami oraz moralnymi aspektami decyzji, które podjęliśmy w minionym roku. Zastanawiamy się, czy i Continue Reading

On the role of holiness in our life

Thoughts on Parashat Haazinu.

I was born and raised in a secular family where certain wisdom and values ​​were instilled in me from early childhood. Among them were values such as education (which is generally considered a carrier of all values), truthfulness, diligence, ambition, being compassionate, sensitiveness Continue Reading

Transience as a blessing

Thoughts and insights for Rosh Hashanah 5781

Religion has the beautifully inherent purpose of helping us gain control and guide us in organizing what is irrational within both our spiritual and practical realms. Maimonides’ view on animal sacrifices, which was performed by the ancient Israelites in the Temple, is Continue Reading

 Open your heart to receive blessing

Thoughts on parashat Nitzavim-Vayelech. 

Human beings are religious beings. This means we have a natural tendency to develop religion or something that metaphysically deals with the problematic mystery of human  existence. Every time human beings want to get rid of religion something else fills this gap and becomes Continue Reading

To encourage or to punish, that is the question.

Thoughts on parashat Ki Teitzei.

Human beings are more prone to be preoccupied with the negative aspects of our existence and tend to ruminate more about unpleasant events. In general, there is not much we can do about this: that’s how our brains have evolved throughout millions of years of evolution – this Continue Reading

A Manual for the Elimination of Evil and Injustice

Thoughts on Parashat Shoftim. 

Is it possible to eliminate crime completely? How about at least eliminating the worse crime, murder? It probably is possible. Here is a scenario:  We lock all the people in individual prison cells and we construct our societies that way. It would require three social castes: prisoners Continue Reading

Where’s the Justice?

Thoughts of Parashat Re’eh

How do you know if those you think are wicked are really wicked? Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said that there is no absolutely evil person in the world and no one who is absolutely good either (paraphrasing his famous saying which I quoted in my drasha a few weeks ago). Similarly, the Continue Reading

To Love God and to Believe in Him

Thoughts on Parashat Va’etchanan. 

Love of God is a basic concept of our faith. Although the idea that the Supreme One reciprocates this love, at all times, is theologically problematic, our history indubitably contains records of the immense love He bestowed upon us – His people. To earn the title of God’s Continue Reading

An atheist’s guide to prayer

Thoughts on parashat Devarim.

Prayer is the salient expression of religious emotion and of man’s relationship with God. Presumably every religious person has asked themselves this question: how much prayer do I need in my life and does it make my connection to God stronger? There may be many answers to this Continue Reading

Can’t we all just get along?

Thoughts on parashat Mattot-Masei.

Recently I re-watched an American classic “Saving Private Ryan”. The main character of the story, Captain John H. Miller, played by Tom Hanks, (spoiler alert) was killed by a German soldier whose life was spared earlier by captain Miller himself, in an act of benevolence and mercy. Continue Reading