Rabbi Konigsburg's Blog

A riddle: What is found in darkness, but never in light; in the midst of shadows, but never in the night? (Email me for the answer).

I find riddles very compelling, especially when the answers aren’t readily obvious. Like a good puzzle, I enjoy the journey of sitting with the problem, trying to think outside the box, and wondering what the answer could possibly be. The journey of solving the riddle isn’t always pleasant...Read more...

I was once taught that if you want to find someone to get something done, find someone who is very busy. At first glance, this seems counterproductive. Why would you choose someone who has a full plate to get something done? Surely, they don’t have any more room to do more! However, the characteristics of someone who is busy demonstrates that the person is productive and a doer. The thinking therefore goes, if you want to find someone to do...Read more...

Having grown up in Florida, hurricane readiness seems to be in my DNA. If there is tropical weather in the forecast, I will always fill up my car with gas, freeze some Tupperware with water so that I can use it to cool off the items in my fridge in case of power failure, have some shelf stable supplies, among other things. My most powerful memory was from 2015, when the gulf coast was still recovering from hurricane Katrina (August), and the...Read more...

I try to catch up on the news at least once a day, particularly in regards to Israel. But as responsible consumers of media, we recognize that different news agencies have different biases, and might elevate some aspects of a story over a more rounded and nuanced approach. At best, the news agencies themselves are reliable and accurate. At worst, the reporting doesn’t conform to media standards and promotes stories that are later...Read more...

Caution: The following contains nerdy references to Star Trek, but it's all in support of Torah!

I was raised on Star Trek Voyager. It’s a story of a starship crew that gets lost on the other side of the galaxy and are making their long voyage home. In true Science Fiction fashion, there is plenty of technological gibberish, aliens, and shenanigans, but also a commentary on the human experience and condition. In one of my...Read more...

A child once asked me, “what makes the wind blow?” My initial reaction was, “I don’t know, ask a meteorologist.” But the truth is, I knew more than I initially thought. Surely there isn’t some giant at the end of the earth that inhales and exhales causing the air currents of the world. Rather, it clearly must be a complicated system of temperature changes at different altitudes in our atmosphere that interact with one...Read more...

Would you be surprised to learn that Sandy Springs was named Sandy Springs because there used to be some bubbling springs around Mount Vernon and Roswell Road? Buckhead is called Buckhead because Henry Irby who resided in what was known as the settlement of Irbyville killed a large buck and placed its head in a prominent location. Well, that’s the story that is told. The origin of the name Toco Hills is a little more disputed. The...Read more...

Believe it or not, I have Autosomal Dominant Compelling Helio-ophthalmic Outburst Syndrome or ACHOO syndrome for short. It’s a condition where bright lights trigger my sneeze reflex. Whenever I walk outside or into bright light, I’ll sneeze about 3-4 times. Thus, on a sunny day, there are many kind people who will respond to my sneezes with a “bless you,” which is in itself very nice. But what does it really mean to say...Read more...

I once did an experiment in college on people’s unconscious behaviors when faced with choices. We were looking at a person’s preference to take the path of least resistance, even if it wasn’t the shortest path. The set-up involved a double set of four doors (like what we use for the main entrance at B’nai Torah) and we’d prop open one of the outside set of doors, and one of the inside ones. Essentially, people would always...Read more...

As we read Parshat Ki Tisa this week, we find ourselves in an interesting section of our Torah. For the past couple of parshiyot, we’ve read the instruction God gives Moses for the building of the portable sanctuary and the clothing the priests wear while officiating the tabernacle service. Moses records the dimensions of the furnishings and the colors of the threads of the curtains/walls, and all of the numerous minutiae for each...Read more...

When I was a counselor at Ramah Darom, we always ate at least one or two meals a week on the field outside the dining hall. We’d have a pizza lunch, or a BBQ dinner, and we would sit with our bunks and our campers under the cloudy summer skies. It was a nice experience that had an unfortunate downside of producing a lot of trash that was unclaimed towards the end of the meal. So, the camp would take a moment before finishing up...Read more...

A truth about human nature is that we are consistently inconsistent. Who we are today, is not who we were twenty years ago, nor is it who we will be a couple of decades from now. We’ve grown from mistakes, explored new opportunities, tested different hypotheses, and compiled our findings into new courses of action every moment of every day. Certainly, we have preferences and habits, but it is as equally true that our behavior tomorrow can...Read more...

My brother and I once took on the task of washing my parents’ car. It was a pleasant Sunday morning, we grabbed the sponges and rags, filled up a bucket with soap and got to work. The car wasn’t terribly dirty, but it did have some rust in some places. Wondering if the rust could come off, my brother and I discovered that you could polish the rust a little with some steel wool. Interestingly, the steel wool also worked really...Read more...

Back in the early days of the internet, I found myself in a predicament. I was taking a United States History class with an upcoming test. To prepare for the test I would look over my notes and any past tests and quizzes to make sure I didn’t repeat the same mistakes. However, I misplaced one of my past quizzes. I wondered if I could find a replacement quiz online – and after some searching, I was rewarded with a cache of all the quizzes...Read more...

Leave only footprints, take only pictures. This was the reminder that my father gave me this week as I spent time away with my family in the Great Smoky Mountains in the North Carolina area. As we ventured out to see the Deep Creek waterfalls with our kiddos in tow, we quelled all statements of “I’m hungry” with the plethora of snacks we lugged around with us. Subsequently, when the little ones devoured the snacks, they would...Read more...