Government
The role of government is to strike a balance between individual rights and the greater good of the community. Yet no political system has been able to perfect this balance.
A civilized nation needs to be built on a foundation of morality and ethics that is timeless and unconditional. At the same time, a nation’s survival is dependent on its constant progress and growth. Since people are bound to have vastly different beliefs, who should define the standards and morality and justice that must rule all people? At what point does a government intervene to keep an individual from harming himself or others? How do we avoid the abuse of power by government leaders? The challenge is to harness our freedom, to channel it for good and righteous purposes.
Police Brutality: The Responsibility of Authority
A Jewish, Talmud-based but totally accessible discussion on police brutality. What does Torah say about police brutality?
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What the Government Shut Down Can Teach Us About Perspective
The key to peaceful disagreement is perspective and humility.
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Emor: How to Speak
Passionate faith can spill over into dogma and intolerance. We must be vigilant that the path of faith should be saturated with love and inspiration.
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Tetzaveh: The World Is Round
Egypt’s search today – and all revolutions against oppressive regimes – is for freedom, not merely democracy. A government that will honor and respect all people’s rights, even that of minorities.
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Ki Tissa: A Bold New Peace Initiative
As war-seasoned veterans with unparalleled credibility, the Jewish people living in the Biblical Holy Land of Israel, are perfectly positioned to now lead the way in proposing a bold new peace initiative – and the timing couldn’t be better.
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Terumah: The World Is Not Flat
What is Israel – that sliver of land surrounded by hundreds of millions of hostile neighbors – to do amidst all the storms thundering around it?
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Shelach: Spain 2010
Sitting in Spain – a country that once expelled all its Jews – listening to the powerful influence that Jews have today on world leaders is quite overwhelming. We sure have come a long way.
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Vayakhel Pekudei: Service or Slavery?
We humans must shed the blinding force of self-interest and respond to the call for service; we must weaken the grip that keeps us trapped and enslaved to our own temptations, and allow ourselves to be mobilized to serve – not human structures, but to serve – our higher calling.
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Ki Tisa: To Serve
If you need a strong wake-up call (and who of us does not?) visit a military base. It will teach you the dramatic difference between a life of duty and one of no duty.
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Vaeira: Haiti
Rabbi Simon Jacobson reflects on the humanitarian response to the Haiti disaster, and how it reflects a shift in global spiritual engagement.
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