Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi

Echoes of Eden: Sefer Vayikra by Rabbi Ari Kahn; Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, 2013; ISBN-10: 9652295922, 256 pages;  $20.95    By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –Rabbi Ari Kahn is one of the most imaginative scholars I have encountered in the Orthodox world. His new commentary on the Book of Leviticus is yet […]

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel SAN DIEGO —  The Psalms’ language is unabashedly picturesque; it full of nature imagery—as is the Siddur itself. One way to think of the metaphor is to see it as a moving image; it is not static. This thought is the simple premise behind the Nehahel Siddur: Nature serves to

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –How the mighty have fallen! This past week, much has been said about one of Modern Orthodoxy’s greatest scholars of our time—Rabbi Michael Broyde, who allegedly has been using a fake ID to help promote his writings and Halachic scholarship. The use of aliases is common in much

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — As a child of a Holocaust survivor, I find it hard to believe that the generation of my aunts and uncles, and father is rapidly coming to an end. The world gets older by the day; my family used to have a large number of relatives

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California – In Shemini, the Torah portion for April 6, 2013, we read about the death of Aaron’s two sons, who died from an accidental explosion in the Tabernacle. Aaron’s reaction is quite telling–despite the absence of scriptural detail from the narrator. As is often the case with biblical

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –Many people  would be surprised to hear that the charge of drinking blood was a common accusation made against the nascent Christian religion in the first three centuries of its existence. Yes, this historical fact is true and recorded in the annals of ancient history. The Roman

By Rabbi Michael Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –Children have an unusual ability when it comes to confronting our spiritual hypocrisy as parents and as adults; very often they get to the essence of the problem as they perceive things. Frequently, as parents, we often fail to hear the questions our young people ask of us;

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California–With great anticipation, I was intrigued who the next Pope was going to be. Then the news came on the airwaves: Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was chosen  the next Pope; and he has chosen the name, “Francis I,” after the St. Francis of Assisi because he

 -Third in a series– The Gaon of Vilna and His Messianic Vision. By Arie Morgenstern, Translated by Naftali Greenwood. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, 2012, Pp. xiii + 446; plates. Cloth, $29.95. I would give this book 4 stars! By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — When I received Morgenstern’s book, The Gaon of Vilna and His

  By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Most modern Jews have considerable difficulty understanding why the Satmar, Chabad, Belzer, and other Hassidic movements oppose Zionism. In this short article, I will try to explain some of the theological and exegetical background regarding the history of this problem. In the course of the

The Gaon of Vilna and His Messianic Vision by Arie Morgenstern, translated by Naftali Greenwood. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, 2012, Pp. xiii + 446; plates. Cloth, $29.95. I would give this book 4 stars! -First in a series — By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –The Vilna Gaon’s life is the stuff that

  By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Purim is here once more. For me, it is a bitter-sweet holiday. The year was 1996. Earlier that day, I went to the hospital to wish my father a “Freilach Purim” (Happy Purim). I was reading the Megillah for my synagogue, when suddenly, somebody informed

By Rabbi Michael Leo SamuelCHULA VISTA, California — Purim Fest 1946. During the Holocaust years, Purim celebrations were forbidden to the Jews. Christians and Jews could not even own the book of Esther. Such decrees did not stop the Nazis from poking fun at the Jews on this Jewish holiday. With diabolical glee, the Nazis