Michael Mantell

The Torah reading this Shabbat asks us where we stand as we set the tone for the rest of our lives. “I have set before you, life and death, the blessing, and the curse. You shall choose life, so that you and your offspring will live.” The themes of t’shuvah, renewal, choosing life, and a recommitment to the covenant by everyone in our community resonate throughout Nitzavim. [Michael Mantell, PhD]

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — Couldn’t we all use some genuine happiness about now? This week’s parasha may be just the thing that can help us create it. We are offered these days of Elul to be an ais ratzon, a space filled with the love and desire between us and Hashem.

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. This week’s parasha, literally meaning, “When you go out…” opens with a description of facing war with enemies. Maimonides tells us that 72 mitzvot spring from this week’s Torah portion, from weights and measures and collecting debts in a righteous way, to proper ways to divorce, keeping promises, and male

Mindfulness and teshuvah. What else need be the focus at this time of the year, with the beginning of Elul and only several weeks away from Rosh Hashana? This is the “Shabbat of Judges,” in which we learn about the ultimate Judge, before whom we all stand, particularly on the day when the book of our lives opens and our thoughts, our feelings, and our behaviors stand bare. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. Look for the “I” in the words happy, joy, glad, cheerful, and pleased and you obviously won’t find it. In this week’s Torah reading, we learn an important insight into this simple observation. There is a recurring theme in Re’eh regarding simcha, meaning happy or joyful. The Hebrew root of

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. With half of the month of Av behind us, many of us are focused on the benefits the month of Elul and the High Holy Days present to us. How will we change for the better? How we improve ourselves and become better than we’ve been? Surely, we know that

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — Wow! Talk about a special Shabbat. First, this is Shabbat Nachamu, the Sabbath of Comfort, based on the first verse of the Haftarah reading that says, “Console, console my people, says your God.” This, of course, follows Tisha B’Av in which we deeply re-experienced a litany of

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. This Shabbat, traditionally known as Shabbat Hazon, “Sabbath of Vision,” we begin reading the Book of Deuteronomy. This is the Shabbat directly before Tisha b’Av, beginning on Saturday night, August 6, a day of collective communal Jewish mourning. This day solemnizes some of the most overwhelming losses in our history

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. When you walk into a synagogue, what do you feel? A deep-rooted home, a sense of connection and a feeling of being appreciated regardless of your age, religious ritual practices, sexual orientation, cultural background, family life? I seek to feel an authentic connection, a well-anchored link and emotional stir to

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. SAN DIEGO — This week’s parasha comes once again filled with lessons to live life optimally. For example, we learn of the essential component of greatness. The Torah tells us, “And Hashem said to Moshe, ‘Take to yourself Yehoshua ben Nun, a man in whom there is spirit…’” The story

We learn in Choshen Mishpat 137, “Behold, the first ‘good’ in the Torah was based on sight. And from this Rabbi Eliezer learned that the general way to achieve goodness is ‘ayin tova.’” Indeed, in Bereshit, we see that the first verse in the Torah using the word “good” is in relation to sight: “And G-d saw the light and it was good…” [Michael R. Mantell, PhD]

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. If you want to believe that our Torah is obsolete and without consequence in our modern society, and if you choose to believe that those who live a more Torah–observant life than you do are thoughtlessly following nonsensical and senseless foolish “religious rules,” then this week’s Torah portion may put

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D. The parasha this week begins with a deep psychological insight into leadership with the words, “Vayikach Korach,” “and Korach took.” He was a taker, not a giver. Contrast this to Moshe who responded to Korach’s rebellion against him by “falling on his face.” A taker? No. Moshe demonstrated the inner

Calev says, “Let’s go,” but he was ignored when the people listened to and bought the groupthink, “…the people are big and strong, and the land is difficult. The people there are giants; we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them.” So much for Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not fear…” Calev was not the cognitive coach he may have hoped he’d be, since he could not help the People overcome their cognitive distortion that led them to want to return to Egypt. It takes independence of thought, being “FIT” (fundamentally independent thinking), to move forward to achieve optimal living. They held on to their slave mindset due to their cognitive distortions.  Through the Spies, Hashem tested our abilities to see through negative filters and properly, with wisdom, discernment and insight, see what was truly good and bad. The spies magnified the negative and minimized the positive – a common distortion that many of us are also guilty of doing. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]