Benjamin Rapaport

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Sep 18, 2013, 11:02 AM

Sukkot: The Holy Hug

My nine-year old son, Felix, asked me about the number on Bubby’s arm. He knows that she was in the Holocaust and got it there. That was not his question. He wanted to know why, what was its purpose. The...

Sep 12, 2013, 8:38 PM

What Is Yom Kippur About?

Yom Kippur is about repairing relationships. Ever since the tablets were smashed, following the sin of the golden calf, and we were forgiven on Yom Kippur and given a new set of tablets, this has been a day of...

Sep 3, 2013, 3:35 PM

Rosh Hashana, September 11, and Uman

It was the week following September 11, 2001. Six months earlier I had gotten married, and five weeks after that my father suddenly passed away. I felt like the world was crumbling around me and I needed to do...

Aug 18, 2013, 4:44 PM

Rosh Hashana: The Judgment-Freedom Dichotomy

In the Rosh Hashana liturgy it says that each of us pass before G-d to be judged.Durdaya means sediment, the dregs left at the bottom of a barrel of wine, referring to the lowly place his actions had brought...

Jul 21, 2013, 6:55 PM

The Blessings of Tu B’Av

The joy of Tu B’Av (the fifteenth of the month of Av) is about transcending limitation. On this day six events occurred, each bearing a message about living in a bigger way. By learning and applying these lessons we...

Jul 14, 2013, 8:28 PM

Beyond Tragedy: Wine, Blood, and Beitar

When the Romans destroyed Beitar, the last stronghold of the Jewish people in Israel on the beginning on the 9th of Av, hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children were slaughtered. Hadrian used their bodies to make a...

Jun 3, 2013, 10:37 PM

3 Frenchmen & The Real You

When Adam ate from the tree, G-d asked him, “Where are you? Where is the real you?" Since that time, the question of who we truly are has troubled mankind. One of the most famous people who struggled with...

Apr 29, 2013, 3:55 PM

Unlocking the 5 locks that block us

(key image via Shutterstock)

On how clarity, planning, courage, flexibility and perspective can open the treasure chest of our dreams

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About Me

Rabbi Benjamin Rapaport grew up in Great Neck, NY, the son of a famous surgeon and scientist; His six-month trip to Israel turned into a twenty-year career of study; Rabbi Rapaport received semicha ordination from Beth Medrash Govoha of Lakewood in 2002, taught in the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem for six years, and lectured at a number of introductory programs to Judaism; More recently, his activities have included graduate work in Clinical Sociology, and several years of clinical practice in counseling; Rabbi Rapaport lives with his family in Jerusalem, where he works with individuals and groups, helping them discover and develop their unique talents and abilities; He is the author of the Jewish Art of Self-Discovery, available on Amazon