Daily Jewish Thought

On the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the shofar finally sounds. Yesterday’s question was: Are you awake? Today’s question goes deeper: What are you awake for and what happens when you finally know where you want to go, but you hit a wall?

Drawing on a powerful teaching of the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Yisroel Bernath tells the story of people invited to visit a king. Again and again they encounter walls, obstacles, distractions, and treasures. Some turn back. Some settle for the rewards along the way. But a few keep going because they remember why they came: “I came for the King.” When they finally reach the innermost chamber and look back, they discover something astonishing: the walls were never what they appeared to be. The King had never been far away.

We all have walls: anxiety, grief, shame, resentment, fear, family struggles, illness, disappointment, self-criticism, or the belief that we should be further along by now. The Baal Shem Tov’s teaching does not deny the reality of pain. It challenges the conclusion that because life feels difficult, G-d must therefore be distant. Kabbalah teaches leit atar panui minei, there is no place devoid of Him. Even the wall itself exists within the palace. The place we imagine is separating us from G-d may be precisely the place where G-d is meeting us.

But the sermon goes one uncomfortable step further: sometimes the wall does not merely block us, it becomes our excuse not to move. Pain is real, but we can surrender our future to it by saying, “This is simply who I am,” “Nothing can change,” or “I cannot move until someone else changes first.” The alternative is not pretending we were never hurt. It is becoming a co-creator with G-d and asking: Given what happened, what do I want to create now?

The shofar becomes the perfect expression of that journey: Teki’ah - wholeness. Shevarim - brokenness. Teruah - fragments. And then another Teki’ah - wholeness again. Not because nothing happened, but because beneath everything that broke is a deeper part of the soul that never stopped belonging to the King.

Rosh Hashanah therefore asks us not to demolish every wall overnight, but simply to identify one wall and take one step. One apology. One boundary. One conversation. One mitzvah. One honest act of courage. And when the shofar sounds, hear the deeper truth: You were never outside the palace. The King was with you inside the journey all along.

Key Points
- Awakening is only the beginning. Once we know we want to change, we inevitably encounter resistance, the “wall.”
- The wall is not proof that G-d is far away. Difficulty, distraction, doubt, anxiety, grief, and spiritual struggle do not equal Divine absence.
- The wall itself is inside the palace. Since nothing exists outside G-d, even concealment exists within His presence.
- Pain is real; separation is not. The sermon carefully distinguishes between denying suffering and refusing to interpret suffering as abandonment.
- Thoughts can masquerade as reality. “I am broken,” “I’ll never change,” “I’m not good enough,” and “I’m too far gone” may feel like facts while actually functioning as walls.
- Sometimes the wall becomes an alibi. A painful story can quietly become permission not to move, grow, repair, forgive, or take responsibility.
- The opposite of Victim is Co-Creator. We cannot control everything that happens to us, but we remain partners with G-d in deciding what happens next.
- You cannot always choose what happens to you, but you can participate in what happens through you.
- You do not need to climb twenty walls today. Take one step: one apology, boundary, appointment, conversation, mitzvah, or change in how you show up.
- Success can become a wall too. Not only suffering distracts us from the King. Career, money, status, accomplishments, and even religious achievements can become “treasures” that cause us to forget why we began the journey.
- A mitzvah is not a trophy; it is a doorway. The question is not merely what we accomplished, but whether it brought us closer.

The shofar tells the story of the soul:
Teki’ah - whole.
Shevarim - broken.
Teruah - fragmented.
Teki’ah - whole again.

- Teshuvah means return. And you can only return somewhere you already belong.
- The King was never waiting at the end of the journey. G-d was present inside every step of it.
- The deepest Rosh Hashanah question becomes: What did you come for? And beneath all the noise, the neshamah answers: I came for the King.
Rabbi Yisroel Bernath's New Book The Forgiveness Experiment is Available now:
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Forgiveness-Experiment-What-Would-Your/dp/1069217638
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FR2QNJL6
Audiobook: https://bit.ly/4tPFZhV

Support the show
Got your own question for Rabbi Bernath? He can be reached at [email protected] or http://www.theloverabbi.com

Single? You can make a profile on www.JMontreal.com and Rabbi Bernath will help you find that special someone.

Donate and support Rabbi Bernath’s work http://www.jewishndg.com/donate

Follow Rabbi Bernath’s YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/ybernath

Access Rabbi Bernath's Articles on Relationships https://medium.com/@loverabbi

This Rosh Hashanah begins with a strange silence: the first day falls on Shabbat, and there is no shofar. But perhaps this year, we do not need a horn to wake us up. The Jewish people are already awake, shaken by antisemitism, fear, and an intensified awareness of what it means to be Jewish.

The deeper question is no longer “Are we awake?” but “What are we awake to?” Antisemitism may remind us that we are Jews, but it cannot be allowed to define what Judaism means. We cannot let those who hate us become our rabbis, write our curriculum, or turn Jewish identity into a story only about fear and survival. Rosh Hashanah calls us to take back the pen and build a Judaism rooted not merely in defiance, but in love, Torah, mitzvos, family, joy, and connection to Hashem.

The shofar is more than an alarm clock. It is the wordless cry of the deepest soul, the prince who has wandered far from the palace, forgotten the language, and yet still remembers Home. This year, perhaps we are the shofar: a Jewish people crying out, searching, remembering, and returning.

The sermon offers three invitations: stop apologizing for being Jewish, learn what you are proud of, and teach the next generation that “S’iz gut tzu zein a Yid” - it is good to be a Jew. Ultimately, Jewish pride is not simply refusing to hide. It is discovering something about Judaism beautiful enough that we want to live it.

Key Points
-This year we are already awake. The world has shaken the Jewish soul awake, the question is what we will do with that awakening.
-Antisemitism cannot define Judaism. It may remind us that we are Jewish, but it does not get to tell us what being Jewish means.
-Take back the pen. Our Jewish story cannot be written only around persecution, fear, or survival. It must also be about what we live for.
-Jewish pride must become Jewish love. “I refuse to hide” is important, but deeper still is: “I love being Jewish.”
-The shofar is the cry of the soul. Beneath words, theology, wounds, and doubts is the etzem haneshamah, the part of us that still knows where Home is.
-Stop apologizing for being Jewish. Stand tall, not arrogantly, but without shame.
-Learn what you are proud of. You cannot deeply love a Judaism you have never taken the time to know.
-Our inheritance is more than trauma. We inherited Auschwitz, but we also inherited Sinai, Shabbat, Torah, family, faith, and light.
-Teach children that Judaism is good. Not merely “S’iz shver tzu zein a Yid” - it is hard to be a Jew, but “S’iz gut tzu zein a Yid” - it is good to be a Jew.
-We need to become the shofar. To live Jewishly with such clarity, joy, and conviction that the next generation can hear what Judaism sounds like through our lives.
Rabbi Yisroel Bernath's New Book The Forgiveness Experiment is Available now:
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Forgiveness-Experiment-What-Would-Your/dp/1069217638
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FR2QNJL6
Audiobook: https://bit.ly/4tPFZhV

Support the show
Got your own question for Rabbi Bernath? He can be reached at [email protected] or http://www.theloverabbi.com

Single? You can make a profile on www.JMontreal.com and Rabbi Bernath will help you find that special someone.

Donate and support Rabbi Bernath’s work http://www.jewishndg.com/donate

Follow Rabbi Bernath’s YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/ybernath

Access Rabbi Bernath's Articles on Relationships https://medium.com/@loverabbi

Our culture often treats aging as something to resist. Judaism sees it differently: years are not merely something that happen to us; they can become a source of wisdom, purpose, and depth. Drawing on the mitzvah of shiluach hakein in Parshat Ki Teitzei, the Torah’s promise of long life, the mitzvah of honoring parents, and the Rebbe’s teachings about aging, Rabbi Yisroel Bernath explores what it really means to “lengthen our days.”
As Elul invites us to look back over another year, the deeper question is not simply, “How much older did I become?” but “How much deeper did I become?”
Through the moving example of Brahm and Ilana Shiller, the sermon becomes a meditation on courage, resilience, love, and living fully even when life does not unfold as we would choose. Perhaps a long life is measured not only by how many days we receive, but by how much life we put into each day.

Key Points
Judaism does not see aging as decline. Long life is a blessing, and lived experience itself carries dignity and holiness.
You can retire from a career, but never from purpose. As our stage of life changes, our mission may change with it, but our ability to matter does not disappear.
Ki Teitzei teaches us not to exploit devotion. Both shiluach hakein and honoring parents remind us to recognize and honor those whose love causes them to keep giving.
Elul is not merely about another year passing. Growing older happens automatically. Growing deeper requires choice.
Difficulty can reveal character. Real positivity is not denying pain; it is being able to say, “This is hard, and I am still going to live today.”
Courage also belongs to the person standing beside the struggle. Caregivers and spouses carry their own quiet burden of love, worry, strength, and hope.
Arichut yamim, long life, can also mean full days. A day filled with love, laughter, generosity, presence, and an open heart contains an extraordinary amount of life.
The Elul question: We cannot always choose what happens to us, but we participate in choosing who we become within what happens.

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Rabbi Yisroel Bernath's New Book The Forgiveness Experiment is Available now:
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Forgiveness-Experiment-What-Would-Your/dp/1069217638
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FR2QNJL6
Audiobook: https://bit.ly/4tPFZhV

Support the show
Got your own question for Rabbi Bernath? He can be reached at [email protected] or http://www.theloverabbi.com

Single? You can make a profile on www.JMontreal.com and Rabbi Bernath will help you find that special someone.

Donate and support Rabbi Bernath’s work http://www.jewishndg.com/donate

Follow Rabbi Bernath’s YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/ybernath

Access Rabbi Bernath's Articles on Relationships https://medium.com/@loverabbi

Tu B’Av is often called the Jewish day of love. In this special Tu B’Av discussion, Rabbi Yisroel Bernath, known as the “Love Rabbi” shares ten essential Jewish relationship principles for singles, couples, and anyone seeking to build deeper, healthier love.
Drawing from Torah, Jewish wisdom, matchmaking experience, and years of counselling singles and couples, Rabbi Bernath explores why dating is not a performance, why chemistry must never outrun character, how to distinguish genuine needs from unrealistic checklists, and why love is not simply something we find, it is something we build.
This class offers practical guidance for dating with clarity, choosing with wisdom, communicating honestly, repairing conflict, and creating a relationship rooted in generosity, commitment, faith, and emotional responsibility.

10 Jewish Relationship Truths
Know Who You Are Before Asking Someone Else to Join You
Don’t Become Good at Dating—Become Good at Relating
Stop Auditioning for Love
Don’t Let Chemistry Outrun Character
Talk About What Matters Before the Wedding
Look for Your Complement, Not Your Clone
Know Your Essentials, but Don’t Worship Your Checklist
Love Grows Through Giving, but Giving Is Not Self-Erasure
Love Is Not Tit for Tat
Don’t Date the Relationship to Death
Rabbi Yisroel Bernath's New Book The Forgiveness Experiment is Available now:
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Forgiveness-Experiment-What-Would-Your/dp/1069217638
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FR2QNJL6
Audiobook: https://bit.ly/4tPFZhV

Support the show
Got your own question for Rabbi Bernath? He can be reached at [email protected] or http://www.theloverabbi.com

Single? You can make a profile on www.JMontreal.com and Rabbi Bernath will help you find that special someone.

Donate and support Rabbi Bernath’s work http://www.jewishndg.com/donate

Follow Rabbi Bernath’s YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/ybernath

Access Rabbi Bernath's Articles on Relationships https://medium.com/@loverabbi

Support the raffle at www.ndgraffle.com.
In this special episode, Rabbi Yisroel Bernath opens his heart to the worldwide community that has grown around the podcast.
The podcast is more than a weekly teaching. It is part of the larger mission of Chabad NDG: creating spaces of belonging, supporting students and families, helping people through crisis, and bringing Torah, healing, hope, and Jewish wisdom into everyday life.
With the annual Chabad NDG raffle now 80% of the way toward its goal, Rabbi Bernath invites listeners to become active partners in sustaining this work. Every raffle ticket helps keep the doors open, in Montreal, online, and in the hearts of people around the world.
As a special gift, supporters will also receive access to the new Kabbalah for Everyone platform, featuring audio and video courses, practical spiritual tools, deeper teachings, and a growing community of people committed to learning and growth.
Support the raffle at www.ndgraffle.com.
Support the show
Got your own question for Rabbi Bernath? He can be reached at [email protected] or http://www.theloverabbi.com

Single? You can make a profile on www.JMontreal.com and Rabbi Bernath will help you find that special someone.

Donate and support Rabbi Bernath’s work http://www.jewishndg.com/donate

Follow Rabbi Bernath’s YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/ybernath

Access Rabbi Bernath's Articles on Relationships https://medium.com/@loverabbi