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

Tag judaism

The Ladder of History

Thoughts on Parashat Vayetze. 

We live in a world that is so deeply divided ideologically that it is commonplace to rationalize the concept that people live in different, parallel realities. We see ideas of tolerance and pluralism, that were born from the Enlightenment, proliferated during the last 20 years – Continue Reading

The Bible is not immoral.

Thoughts on parashat Toldot. 

The Hebrew Bible has been accused of containing fictional or idealized events and phenomena, especially incredible or miraculous events. The main problem with this critique is that the Bible contains testimonies that are often non-falsifiable. The proposed “methods of verification” Continue Reading

Age gracefully, time is on your side.

Thoughts on parashat Chayei Sarah.

What is time? Time is a measure of the variability of all things. Although this definition may not be sufficient, for example, in astrophysics, it is completely sufficient for our human, earthly perspective and living experience. 

Life is reborn in cycles. Our imagination, dominated Continue Reading

What to do to live happily ever after

Thoughts on parashat Noach.  

The fear of the LORD prolongs life, While the years of the wicked will be shortened. 

Proverbs 10:27

Immortality is an eternal human longing and its motif is interlaced throughout all religions and cultures of the world, including secular culture. We see this theme everywhere. Literature, Continue Reading

10 przykazań z rabinicznym i filozoficznym komentarzem

Wszystkich zainteresowanych zapraszam do obejrzenia cyklu moich wykładów/podcastów, który nagrałem tego lata. Temat wydaje się oczywisty i powszechnie znany. W rzeczywistości istnieje w tej kwestii wiele niespodzianek, niuansów i spora ilość rozmaitych interpretacji.

Przykładowo: 1. Nie ma w Biblii przykazania “Nie zabijaj”. Continue Reading

On this day we stand before God as one man

Thoughts on Yom Kippur 5781

During the High Holidays we reflect on the moral actions and decisions we have made over the past year. We wonder if we have harmed our loved ones and the people around us. If we find guilt in ourselves, we ask for forgiveness. When it comes to sin, the interpersonal relationship involved 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