This morning we discuss the timing and significance of our adopting, at God's command in our Torah portion, Bo, a calendar based on the cycles of the moon, instead of revolutions around the sun. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin traces this back to Moshe's grandparents, and we see this in the inspiring story of Ted Williams, 'the homeless man with the golden voice' and the man who discovered him, Doral Chenoweth.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3

Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions for feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This morning we discuss the overwhelming presence of the Exodus from Egypt in Jewish life. Can we really refer to Judaism as the religion of exodus? We present an approach, partially based on Nachmonides (Ramban), to explain the text of the Ten Commandments, and several seemingly minor, but ultimately crucial aspects of the exodus narrative. And we include a great story I heard from Elie Wiesel about an air conditioner.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3

Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions for feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This morning we experience a short guided meditation together, envisioning the perfect on Shabbat, based on the wisdom of Rabbi Yitzchak Schwartz. Especially if meditation is not your thing, or if you have never tried it and don't want to, this may surprise you. Please let me know what you think, and if we should do more of this.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3

Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions for feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This evening we discuss Rabbi Yehuda Amital's classic explanation of how the Jewish People could not hear Moshe's message that their freedom and redemption was at hand, and the crucial corollary we see from Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Sivan Rahav Meir, plus an even more basic technique - breathe. We grapple with the rabbinic assertion that Moshe did not perform certain of the plagues as a way to show gratitude to inanimate aspects of nature, with a new understanding of what expressing gratitude does for us. We then illustrate this with three remarkable, but very different stories; one from Rabbi Yisroel Zev Gustman, one from Dr. David Pelcovitz, and the last from Henry Winkler. Finally, we look at the unique treat being offered this week in some Kosher bakeries in order to trace the fundamental moral lesson of the second of the ten plagues, (Tz'fardea) from Rabbi Yaakov Kanievsky, known at the Steipler Rav, which every one of us need to internalize.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3

Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions for feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This morning we discuss the current controversial issue in Israel of doctors being allowed to refuse treatment when it conflicts with their religious beliefs. We distinguish between two related but conflated issues, and provide an analogy to what is happening here in Canada. The bottom line is every person must be shown respect, dignity, and empathy by every medical professional - no exceptions.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3

Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions for feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This morning we discuss one more approach, from Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, to why the Land of Israel is given to us by God in our Parsha as an inheritance, rather than any other means of transfer. We trace the dispute between the Jews of Jerusalem and the Jews of the Diaspora, and God's response through Yechezkel, the prophet Ezekiel, that the land - spiritually - belongs to the entirety of the Jewish People, wherever they are. And we explore how that colors our connection to Israel now, like the Jews in Egypt, wherever we are.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3

Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions for feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This morning we discuss why, of all the ways to transfer ownership in Jewish Law, both the Torah, and the Land of Israel (in our Torah portion, VaEira) are sometimes described as an inheritance. We explore one approach taught by Rabbi Eli Munk, based on the clang association our rabbis use to interpret the word "Morasha" (inheritance). And we suggest another, psychological answer, using a great quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3

Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions for feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This morning we discuss why God tells Moshe to ask Paro to allow the Jews to leave for only three days, when clearly the intention is to leave permanently. We show how pervasive and how frequently repeated this misdirection is, we provide several classical answers given, and (in my opinion) their drawbacks. After years of analyzing this problem, I am left with no satisfying answer (though I am sure there is one, and I am certain God is just and moral, even if I don't see it). I welcome any suggestion you have - I clearly don't have all the answers!

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3

Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions for feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This morning we discuss the standards and guidelines for setting aside Shabbat, Yom Kippur, or any other Mitzvah in order to protect health and safety. Using two very different situations that arose for me recently in helping other people, we analyze how to evaluate and determine when one Mitzvah is set aside for another.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3

Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions for feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This morning we explore the wonderful benefits cell phones can bring to prayer, and the terrible harm they can cause. We provide guidelines for how cell phones should and should not be used during prayer - both private and communal. In many synagogues, the use of cell phones during prayer causes wanton distraction and upset, becoming a major source of disharmony in shul - the opposite of the goal of the synagogue, and the opposite of the purpose of prayer. We also briefly discuss how cell phones should and should not be used on Shabbat.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3

Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions for feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.