Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — The Jewish world has recently begun its new project of the Daf Yomi, or “Page of the Day.”  Here is a brief history how the project originally began. Rabbi Meir Shapiro, leader of the World Agudath Israel, introduced a novel idea in 1923. He felt the […]

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Who says religious people aren’t funny? Where is Jay Leno when you need him? The world of the Ultra-Orthodox (a.k.a. “Haredi” and “Hasidim”) never fail to evoke laughter and irony. In their quest for personal piety, they will go to extremes to keep themselves away from

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel   SAN DIEGO — Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook writes in his famous mystical and moral tract, The Lights of Penitence: The greatest impediment to the human spirit, upon reaching maturity, results from the fact that the conception of God is crystallized among people in a particular form, which goes back to childish habit

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Some anthropologists, like Mircea Eliade, argue that the biblical notion of time is essentially linear, while the Oriental notion of time is cyclical in nature. Eliade was only partially correct. The Jewish holiday cycle certainly has a strong cyclical element. If anything, Jewish concept of time

By Rabbi Michael Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –Since our ancestors have not always treated one another respectfully or tolerantly, I thought I would focus on a sensible theme for this time of the year. Our lesson begins with a passage from the Talmud: Tolerance begins with respecting our neighbor. The Talmud relates the following story: “A

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — The theology of Rabbi Shneir Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812) raises some fascinating questions about the nature of creatio ex nihilo—creation out of nothing. How can the theologian refer to God as “nothing,” when God is the totality of all things and infinitely more? He answers that