Michael Mantell

Dr. Michael Mantell

Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. is a retired psychologist, best-selling author, international speaker, and a highly sought after cognitive behavioral coach whose actionable, valuable and practical work has been featured on Fox News, ABC-TV, NBC-TV, CBS-TV, The New York Times, and The Huffington Post. He has been teaching how Torah’s wisdom can lead to optimal living for many decades. You can follow him on Facebook and in other social media, where he has posted the #MantellDaily5 everyday for years.

His books, available on Amazon, include:

Torah Reading for July 24, 2021

Well, here we are on this Shabbat Nachamu reminding us that in just seven weeks we’ll be celebrating Rosh Hashana. This “Sabbath of comforting,” from the haftarah in the Book of Isaiah, we read, Nachamu, nachamu ami “Comfort, comfort my people,” and we have the first of the seven haftorot, Sheva deNechamata, of consolation helping us prepare psychologically and spiritually for the holiday of Rosh Hashana. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Torah Reading for July 17, 2021

Let’s begin at the beginning of this week’s parasha, which we read on the Shabbos before Tisha B’Av every year, and look at the first words of the Torah reading, “These are the words which Moshe spoke unto all of Israel across the Jordan…” Yes, Moshe spoke his words to ALL Jews, not just those alive then, but to all, including us today. When we read this parasha, Moshe is speaking directly to me and you. This makes Devarim a particularly human parasha, one in which Moshe establishes a quite personal relationship with each of us. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Torah Reading for July 10, 2021

When you walk into a synagogue what do you feel? This week’s double reading, Matot and Massei, on the Shabbat that is the first day of the auspicious month of Av, offers us some insight into this question. After all, these readings teach of a new phase in the history of our heritage, the settlement period when we began to find permanent homes for ourselves. Is that what your synagogue is for you? [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Torah Reading for July 3, 2021

Know anyone who’s never faced frustration or adversity, or who’s realized all his or her dreams? Not even Moshe, this week’s parasha teaches us, can claim that he’s lived that life. Before Moshe faces his end, he surmounts his own disappointments and pain and focuses on insuring that he will leave a successor. Hashem showed Moses the Land of Israel and told him that he wouldn’t be allowed to bring the Jewish people into the Land. Moses immediately said: “May … God … appoint a man over the assembly, who shall go out before them … and let the assembly … not be like sheep that have no shepherd.” (Numbers 27:16-17) Moses places his hands on Joshua, announcing him to be the next leader. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Book Review: The Wisdom of Getting Unstuck

Written by Rabbi Shimshon Meir Frankel, a clinical psychologist living in Zichron Yaakov, Israel, who also practices as a marriage and family therapist, with more than 25 years of experience, his book stands out with its Torah-driven, short-term, solution-oriented focus anchored in ancient wisdom. It puts the reader in the driver’s seat with very concentrated tools to live free of foreign, unhelpful thoughts, “antagonists,” and unhealthy behaviors – it is soul focused and value grounded. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Michael Mantell

Talking Donkey Teaches Us To See the Good in One Another

Talking donkeys can teach us a great deal about who really offers blessings and curses, that is, only Hashem. And more than this, talking donkeys can teach us to inclusively, with ahavat yisroel, open our eyes and see the good in everyone else in the world. It says in the parasha three times, “And G-d opened the eyes of Bilam and he saw…” Some people, like Bilaam, may need continuous lessons to see the presence of Hashem. We benefit from similar reminders to see every other person with understanding, with the benefit of the doubt, with love, through ayin tova. Our eyes are lenses through which we see the world. Too often shmutz clouds what we see in terms of negative thinking. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Torah portion for June 19, 2021: Chukat

The Pure Red Heifer, the Parah Adumah T’mimah which we read about in this week’s parasha, Chukat, opens the door to learning about a purification process that defies rational understanding. Burn a perfectly good cow without blemish and its ashes can make those who burn it imperfect, impure, while making the impure, the imperfect, pure and perfect. What a paradox! [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

By Our Actions We Choose Blessings or Curses

As this third book of the Torah, the middle book, comes to an end, we are given nechemta, with a hopeful view of future generations. The parasha tells us, “If you follow My statutes and observe My commandments and perform them, I will give you rains in their time, the Land will yield its produce, and the tree of the field will give forth its fruit. Your threshing will last until the vintage…and I will grant peace in the Land…You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you…” [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell