Rabbi Guzik - A Bisl Torah

Ten years ago, Erez and I took our honeymoon in Maui. As part of the week’s excursions, we drove the road to Hana. As explained, the road to Hana includes many breathtaking views, waterfalls, spots to pause and recognize God’s...

In one of my classes at Sinai, we explored the question, “Who has the power to enact a miracle?” We spoke about God, the example of Moses splitting the Sea of Reeds, and even pointing to the beginning of Creation...

I was asked why this March of the Living was different than past trips to Poland. Each trip is special. This journey was unique because we traveled with the Steinberg family. Stuart, Evie, Jake and Paige Steinberg joined our Sinai...

Rain poured from the heavens as our Sinai Temple-Sinai Akiba Academy March of the Living delegation visited Zbilagovska Gora, the place where the Nazis murdered 8,000 Jews, including 800 children. One by one, the Jews were forced to undress, line...

A Bisl Torah (Passover edition) So many crumbs One of the purposes of the Passover holiday is to rid one’s house of crumbs. For days we engage in bedikat chametz, the searching out of leavened products. For Jewish parents everywhere,...

Addressing the silent child (This Bisl Torah was featured in this week’s Jewish Journal) This year, I’m most concerned about the silent son in the haggadah, the child who doesn’t know how to tell the story. It means the rest...

As participatory as High Holy Day services may be, it sometimes feels like a show. The pristine nature of the adorned, white Torahs. Everyone dressed to their finest. The operatic, enchanting voice of the Cantor bellowing out Kol Nide. You...

At morning minyan, it is a Sinai Temple tradition for a congregant to give a little singing solo into the concluding words of Aleinu. Every Shabbat, I watch another congregant touch her loved one’s yahrzeit plaque as if she is...

The main investor of Beresheet, the Israeli spacecraft that launched in February to land on the moon, addressed 18,000 people at the AIPAC conference. “One day, I wasn’t feeling well, and paramedics checked my blood pressure. I told the paramedics,...

I am often asked the question: Why did you become a rabbi? Usually, I respond with a story about Jewish identity and what it was like to grow up Jewish in Orange County. But that isn’t actually a real answer....