how to eat when you have to

Devar Torah for Friday Night - VaYigash Did brothers go to Egypt because there was a famine and they needed food or because it was G-ds plan to make peace between brothers and Josef ? Yes and yes. Did Jews stay in Egypt for 400 years because it made economic sense at the time or because it was G-ds plan and part of his promise to Abraham? Yes and yes. Did Jews become enslaved as a result of assimilation or because it was G-ds plan and a necessary part of Jewish education for generations to come? Yes and yes. But what was the point in the scripture that signified the beginning of enslavement? Our Sages tell us it's "Ve-Yahazu Bah" at the end of this week's Torah Portion. The Jews acquired the choicest  land in Egypt and took hold of it. Did they take hold of the land or did the land take hold of them? Yes and yes. Did we come to US because it made economical sense or because it was part of G-ds plan for our growth and development? Yes and yes. Are we living in

Scarlett : As God is my witness, as God is my witness they're not going to lick me. I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again.               “Gone with the wind” (1939) As God is our witness, we did not go hungry again. In 2011, every third American is obese. In 2008 I was obese too. Now, after losing 50 pounds, I want to help others to do what I did. And people do ask all the time: “How did you do it?” And I always answer: “Gradually...” What else can I say? I don’t represent the 50-billion weight loss industry. I have nothing to sell. I have no easy answers.  What I do have is a story. And it starts with Victor Frankl. Victor Frankl was a Holocaust survivor and the founder of Logotherapy , the “ Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy”.  In his book “Man’s search for meaning” he outlines th

Dear Wurzweiler Office of Admissions, Please join me on a special ride. We are going to go back in time in search of life experiences. The journey of this kind is nothing new, and the older we get the more often we find time to go back in time. We go back to re-live the experiences and make sense of it all. First Stop: Two weeks ago. Midtown Kollel .             We finished learning the fifth chapter of Talmud tractate “Sanhedrin” that deals with Jewish approach to judging capital cases. I gave a short talk summarizing the most interesting parts of the chapter. What touched me the most was a note about Rabbi Yochanan, who lived 120 years and spent first 40 years “ Be Pragmatia ” - doing commerce, next 40 years - learning and the last 40 years – teaching…  Soon I’ll be 40 too, and it keeps me wondering: how did he pull it off? Can I do the same?             When you are 20 you think you can do everything, at the same time. You can write the Great American Novel with yo

                        Almost no one puts in the work to create or invent                                                                         Seth Godin, “Linchpin” For the last 10 years of my life I was putting myself in the same challenging situation: I would get a Software Developer job and would try to keep it for a while. It’s not very hard for me to get a job, because I interview well. Keeping a job is not hard either, because I’m a fast study and I welcome feedback. But it’s very hard for me to contain myself within a job description while keeping my sanity. I like to shake things up, ask stupid questions, and do the impossible. And I like to do it 9-to-5.  It’s very hard to pull off for a number of reasons: Most people like security, boundaries and status. People don’t like changes An innovator is sometimes perceived as a ‘climber’  Some people tend to work hard rather then smart, seeing clock-watchers as lazy and indifferent. No one like