Michael Mantell

How do you manage the pressure of hail in your life? No, not the hail that might fall once every few years in our generally warm San Diego rainy seasons. The hail I’m referring to is that which comes as adversity and misfortune, the type that Pharaoh experienced in this week’s Torah reading. Pharaoh told Moshe after the plague of hail, “I’ve sinned this time and God is righteous and me and my people are wicked.” But as soon as the hail cleared, Pharaoh stepped back from his admission. [Michael Mantell, Ph.D]

What sustains you through setbacks in life? Is it your self-confidence? After all, pop psychology would have us believe that what it takes is simply true belief in yourself. But this week’s parasha Vayechi, teaches us that what strengthened and motivated Joseph was a genuine understanding of Divine providence. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

For those who cherish the gift of life and all the possibilities it brings, striving for a gentle life makes sense. Forgiveness is one path to a more peaceful, soothing, and kinder life. This week’s Torah reading provides a way to move towards this life, with Joseph’s heroism, understanding, tolerance, and compassionate forgiveness as our blueprint. After all, forgiveness, redemption, and growth are always central to our lives, and especially in current times. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

This week’s parasha, Miketz, falls out during Chanukah. Yet, Chanukah isn’t mentioned even once in all of our Torah. Recall that in last week’s parasha, Vayeishev, Joseph was thrown into a pit. Joseph prayed and Hashem answered his prayers. This week, we read how his life changed, how Hashem saved his family and by extension, our lives as Jews as well, and how Joseph prayed prayers of thanksgiving…as do we, for Hashem delivering us miraculously as he did Joseph. Our endurance has little to do with military capacity or political perceptiveness, both clearly important, but rather from our own inner determination that is launched in our faith. This is the link between Miketz and Chanukah. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

You’ve heard it many times, “Man plans, G-d laughs.” Or perhaps, like me, you’ve heard this version, “Mentsch tracht, Gott lacht.” I like “Man thinks, G-d Winks.” Regardless, like all of us who prefer to live without being mutchet or tcheppeht, (pressured or bothered), Jacob found that life has its challenges and disappointments. Just when we think all is well in our family, in our career, in our lives, G-d shows us that He has another lesson for us to learn. It seems the only thing predictable about life is how unpredictable it can be. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

This week’s Torah reading has more passukim, 154 verses, than any other in Sefer Bereishis. There must be a good reason, and indeed, there are many lessons from which we can derive benefit inside the depth of these many verses. The parasha is bursting with scheming, compromise, desire, retaliation, hostility, birth, and death. [Michael Mantell, Ph.D]

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.  In this week’s parasha we learn about the psychology of living life well, that is, how to strengthen our character. This includes a) reinforcing our spirituality and b) intensifying our commitment to a strong work ethic, two areas of contemporary societal life that are clearly in need of improvement. וְאַתֵּנָה

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. If you’re looking for a love story, this week in Toldot, we read a magnificent one, in fact, the first in the Torah. Given this parasha, you might think I’m talking about the love story between parents and children, each in their own unique way. So many have written about

Several years ago, when writing about this week’s Torah portion, I shared two very contemporary lessons I saw inside of the ancient text – never give up hope and be in emotional control when dealing with oneself and with others. Now several years later, several years older, these lessons appear even more valuable. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. Radical Chesed…Kol Yisroel Chaverim. Are you open to holiness in your life? If so, how open are you? This week’s parasha, Vayeira, filled with abundant trials, passions and complications of family and communal life, can be a guide to doing just that. After all, it begins, “Now the Lord appeared

Every step we take in life carries with it magnificent opportunities, but when we are promised that we will be made into a great nation, that we will be blessed, that we will become a blessing, what would make us hesitate to take that step? Abraham, following his Divine calling more than 3700 years ago, took a step that changed the world. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

As we once more begin our annual reading of the Torah, we recount the grandeur of Hashem’s creation. Some may think they’ve already read it enough times to know it all. But in his 1971 sermon on Parshat Bereishis, Rabbi Norman Lamm z”l asked how might we bring ourselves to Bereishis once again with a new perspective, ready for new learning. How can we look at Bereishis with renewed eyes? {Miahael R. Mantell, Ph.D}