Category: Rabbi Spitz’s Blog

Calm & Caution

This moment calls for calm and caution for this moment is dangerous. We are facing an unprecedented challenge in our lifetimes. No other illness has caused so much uncertainty. With a shudder I watch the spread of COVID-19 and feel great concern for those with the coronavirus and for all of us trying to negotiate … Read More

Responding to Uncertainty

                                This moment calls for calm and caution for this moment is dangerous. We are facing an unprecedented challenge in our lifetimes. No other illness has caused so much uncertainty. With a shudder I watch the spread of COVID-19 and feel great concern for those with the coronavirus and for all of us trying to … Read More

Message from Rabbi Spitz

A State Of National Emergency Our country is now in a “State of National Emergency.” In that light, let me follow-up on my email yesterday with some questions and answers. How is COVID-19 different than the flu?         First and foremost it is far more deadly. The rate of death from the common … Read More

Sweet Smells

The sweet smells of challah baking prompts anticipation of Shabbat. The delicious and beautiful braided egg bread sets the meal apart from the rest of the week, as do the candles and the blessings over wine. The recent “Mega-Challah Bake” drew over 1,200 women from our Orange County to our JCC. What a wonderful celebration … Read More

The Zohar

We are naturally drawn to mystery. And there is no greater mystery than uncovering the pulse and purpose of life, which is the essence of Jewish mysticism. And yet, to read the Zohar, the classical mystical commentary to the Torah, is to become aware that illumination, the meaning of the word Zohar, requires patience, imagination … Read More