Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –This past week, a newspaper featured a picture of a Lubavitcher rabbi smilingly putting tefillon 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 speaking […]

Rabbi Shiloh Ben-David, Shalom Aleichem: A Collection of Halachos, Aggados, and Anecdotes about Greeting People; ISBN-13: 978-9657599136; 217 pages; Publisher: Self-Published; Price: $23.95. Rating: 2.5 * out of four. By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — The 20th century Orthodox scholar and philanthropist Irving Bunim, in his monumental study on makes a profound observation about

Rabbi Menachem Genack,  In Letters to President Clinton: Biblical Lessons on Faith and Leadership  Sterling Ethos/OU Press, New York, 2013. 288 pages, ISBN 978-1-4549-0791-6. Price: $24.95 By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — President Bill Clinton is in many ways one of the most iconic and beloved presidents of recent history. His congenial manner

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — One of the famous and most important questions asked about Hanukkah reads: What is Hanukkah? [i.e., “Why do we celebrate Hanukkah?”]. The question strikes a modern reader as odd. Surely, the Jews must have known about the holiday’s significance for several centuries! On the surface, one

By 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

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA,  California — In his Torahmusings,  R. Gill Student cites an endorsement of R. Steinsaltz’s translation from R. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb. His comments are especially important for anyone interested in the science of translation as it pertains to the translation of the Talmud: Every translation is to some extent a

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — This past week, I went to the local sushi bar for some Nova Scotia sushi rolls. While I was there, I noticed the large screen television featuring a bout that took place at Wrestlemania. Despite some of the usual shtick, the bad guy won fair and

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Both Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung point out that it is through dreams we can better understand the unconscious mind. “Dreams” said Freud, “are the royal road to the unconscious.” The Talmud itself attests, “A dream that it is not interpreted is like a letter that

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Rabbi Kamin’s interesting article on the subject of Halloween reminded me of many of my own childhood experiences. Is Halloween “permitted”? Is the children’s ritual of “Trick and Treating,” considered forbidden because it emulates the practices of the non-Jewish world? Many years ago, a learned colleague