Oct 30, 2019

Raize Guttman 10-27-19 (28 Tishrei 5780)

Parsha Chayei Sarah - Chapter 2 - Verses 13 - 15

Raize brilliantly ties in these verses to the power of loshen (speech). Our mouths and the words that come out them should be kept clean, holy and lofty so that we will be able to do great things with our mouths and so we can represent Hashem in this world.

Oct 7, 2019

Raize Guttman 10-06-19 (07 Tishrei 5780)

Yom Kippur shiur
Raize suggests beautiful and meaningful ways to approach teshuva.



Janet brought down something she learned from Rabbi Binyamin Marwick. People will often wish each other, especially at this time of year to have happiness. However, happiness is not the Jewish way, Simcha is the Jewish way. Here is the distinction. The word happy comes from an old English word, “hap” which means luck or chance. Ie in the words: happenstance, happening. We Jews don’t believe in luck or chance, so we don’t view happiness in the same way. We approach happiness with simcha. Simcha, is the contraction of two words “sham” (there) and “moach” (mind). Simcha has to do with placing one's thoughts. In other words, when you have simcha, you have control. You put your mind in a frame of mind to be b’simcha. Let us learn from this valuable insight and focus on simcha as we approach the holidays.