Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — The other day, I watched an interview with the Jewish Reggae singer Matisyahu, shortly after he had shaven his beard! I could just imagine what some of his Hassidic fans were saying to one another after they heard the news, “Matisyahu! Please […]

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California– Stephen Hawking in the beginning of his book, A Brief History of Time, relates a story he believes originated with the scientist-philosopher Bertrand Russell, who once fielded an interesting question asked by an elderly woman after finishing a lecture he gave on astronomy: “He described how the

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel   CHULA VISTA, California — Recently this question was posed to me: God warns us explicitly not to follow in the ways of the other nations. How does this apply to our custom to give gifts on Chanukah, which seems to have been taken from the very not-Jewish tradition of

By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — One of Erich Fromm’s most penetrating insights pertains to his distinction between authoritarian vs. humanistic religion.  Fromm’s You Shall Be as Gods: A Radical Interpretation of the Old Testament and Its Tradition is one of the most remarkable books I have ever read on the early