Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista, California.
His books, available on Amazon, include:
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Often the greatest critics of religion offer us a series of criticism about the depth of our faith; they confront us with our hypocrisy. They challenge us to reexamine what it means to “believe.” As a young teenager, I remember hiding Raphael Patai’s book, Hebrew Myths in […]
Book Review: ‘In Good Faith’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel’s book Gentle Judaic Wisdom is a brilliant work, very wise, easy to read, and deceptively simple. The book is filled with quotes that have significant information. It is a rich cornucopia of wisdom quoted from sources such as the Torah, Mishna, Tosephta,
Book Review: ‘Gentle Judaic Wisdom’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Jewish tradition has long taught that the Hamans of the world accomplish more good than evil by uniting the Jewish people. The Talmud relates, “The actions of Ahasuerus and Haman can be understood with a parable; … the sealing of Haman’s decree proved more effective than the
Omar’s anti- Semitic calumny deserves sterner response Read More »
Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Middle East, USA
By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin BOCA RATON, Florida — Unfortunately, most people of all religions only know what they were taught about their religion and the Bible that they learnt in grade school. Most of it is childish and wrong. It is a shame that people do not improve their knowledge about religion as they
How Maimonides understood Torah Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi-Third in a Series- By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — This is my last article for now dealing with some of the challenges the Jewish and black community face in their battle against racial intolerance and Anti-Semitism. The Women’s March demonstrated against Donald Trump at his inauguration. It was one of the
Women’s March leaders still embrace Farrakhan Read More »
International, Jewish History, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, USA-Second in a Series- By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Most of us probably had a lot of respect and cheered for Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction. It is a story about the life of African-American women
In reply to Alice Walker’s calumnies against Jews Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi–First in a series– By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — The “secret” is out. According to the bigots, the Jews control the world! We own the media! Politicians do our bidding! The Jews “control” Wall Street! Have you heard about the old joke concerning two Jews who were dining at a Vienna
LeBron James has much to learn about Jews Read More »
Jewish History, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Sports & Competitions, USABy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — This past week, a newspaper featured a picture of a Lubavitcher rabbi putting tefillin on Santa Claus. It reminded me of a story from Eli Plaut’s book, Kosher Christmas. It mentions how an old Ukrainian Jewish immigrant dressed up as Santa Claus and spoke Yiddish. When
Ridding ourselves of ancient prejudices Read More »
Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiSiddur Avodat HaLev (Hebrew and English Edition) Hardcover by Rabbinical Council of America; Editor: Rabbi Basil Herring, by Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 97896530-19362; 1346 pages By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — The brand new Siddur Avodat Halev is a fabulous new commentary on the traditional siddur, but unlike most commentaries you have read, the writers of this project
Book Review: Siddur Avodat HaLev Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — I often get asked the questions, “What is the symbolism of the dreidel? What exactly is its origin?” The dreidel is a four cornered top that was popular in the medieval era and originally used for gambling. Jewish folklore purports that when the Syrians prohibited the
History and meanings of the dreidel Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Whenever we talk about the protagonists of the Bible, we must remember that every biblical actor’s character evolves in the course of a lifetime. What each person starts out differs from what each one ultimately becomes. In the latter half of Genesis, the ancient storyteller lavished
Stan Lee’s heroes, like our patriarchs, overcame flaws Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — The question of turkey’s status as a permitted bird is a topic that comes up every Thanksgiving holiday season. Nevertheless, many Orthodox Jews I personally know will never eat turkey since there is no tradition permitting it. Clearly, the Torah does not mention turkey at all
Historic question: Is turkey really kosher? Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, The World We Share
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — On Thursday night, Nov. 1, almost 140 gathered at Temple Beth Shalom to participate in a special ecumenical memorial service for those murdered in last week’s Shabbat service at the Tree of Life Synagogue, located in the Squirrel Hill Jewish area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a
Clergy, officials turn out for vigil at Beth Shalom Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, San Diego County, USABy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Anti-Semitism is one of the world’s most enduring social diseases that we as Jews have known throughout our history. With the murder of eleven Jews at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue, the Jewish community awoke from its slumber only to realize that anti-Semitism is still alive
Jews threatened by extreme right AND extreme left Read More »
Jewish History, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, USA