Eikev
The smallest thing often makes the biggest difference.
When even our heels are connected we know that we are in a good place. And when we are, the energy will flow with holy abandon. In order to know how to live, we must remember how not to live: golden calves are a waste of gold; scouts are meant to observe and report, not decide; being a rebel is only good if it brings people closer. But even when everything breaks, we can make things whole and holy again. For forty years heavenly manna and the blessing of the Creator sustained us. The flowing land we are about to enter is blessed seven inimitable kinds of flora, and the Holy One’s eyes are upon it perpetually. Remove any impurity from its borders. The second section of the Shema chronicled.
Explaining Corruption to Children
When the day comes that our children are old enough to be confused by the dissonance around us, and they approach us with their questions, here are some words that we can offer.
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How Singing Transforms Suffering
Learn how to see every twist and turn of your life, as part of a grand musical symphony, in which each note is an integral part of your melody.
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Sweetening Severities: How to Deal with Difficulties
Get a glimpse at suffering as seen through the eyes of a great mystic.
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Possibilities
In Eikev, this week’s Torah portion, we begin to deal with one of life’s biggest questions: “What am I truly capable of achieving”…
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Vacation or Holiday?
In America we go on “vacation,” however in England and the Commonwealth it is called a “holiday”…
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Orthodoxy vs. The World
How do we reconcile faith and modernity? What is one to do? What does the Torah advocate?
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Protect Our Children
Parents, educators, anyone who cares – wake up! Our children are at stake. Our future is at stake. Is that not more important than our own petty comfort zones?
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Chanah’s Prayer
Chana’s prayer taught us how to pray on Rosh Hashanah and throughout the year. This essay is a deep look into Chana’s prayer as the source of Jewish prayer as we understand it.
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Eikev: Orthodoxy Vs. The World Part II
Part II of a two part essay discusses the theme of how to reconcile faith with modernity. Noah Feldman’s experience captures the dissonance between the two
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Eikev: Game Plan
A perspective on Israel’s current circumstances and response to its warring identity. This article provides important guidelines for overcoming the reality.
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Eikev: Religion VS. Spirituality
When it comes to religion and spirituality, are they mutually exclusive or can they sit comfortably side by side?
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Eikev: Blackout
A personal message about the value of reflecting during the period after the 15th of Av when “the power of the sun” begins to weaken.
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Moses’ Choice
Moses’ breaking of the tablets was an act endorsed by G-d. How is the breaking of the covenant between G-d and the Jewish people an achievement of Moses?
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Heat and Cold
When saying the amidah(“standing” prayer) the Talmud instructs us to beware of interruption..
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The Psalmist and the General
Av and Elul, the eleventh and twelfth months of the Jewish year, are end to end in the calendar but worlds apart in character and temperament.
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Spiritual Coldness vs. Spiritual Heat
Nothing positive and holy can ever spring forth from spiritual coldness. When a person is faced with icy indifference he must reassess his spiritual life.
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Eikev: A Miracle In Our Times?
Hamas and ISIS (as well as Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and other Islamic terrorist groups) have very similar objectives (obviously with their own variations).
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