Listen to an audio version Courage has many faces. It can mean saying no to compromise, or it can mean making a difficult compromise. It can entail dying a heroic death or living through terrible pain. It can mean fighting…
Tag: Jewish
Pinchas – Zeal Appeal Or The Real Deal
Listen to an audio version There are always two unseen guests at every bris, neither has been specifically invited, yet the spirit of each is evoked. Of course Elijah is the first unseen guest as he often is at Jewish…
B’halot’kha – Salvation On Trial
This week parsha will introduce a theme that will characterize much of the remaining narrative of Bamidbar. Chapters 11-25 contain a series of refusals on the part of Israel to accept authority. In chapter 12 even Miriam challenges Moses’ authority.…
Bechukotai – Peace Within and Without
Listen to an audio version “…you will dwell securely in your land. I will provide peace in the land…” (Vayikra 26:5-6) After the Torah guarantees that we will dwell in our land safely if we observe the mitzvot, it…
Kedoshim – The Best Name
Listen to an audio version I have spent a significant amount of time over the past two decades teaching in various and sundry churches concerning the importance and efficacy of the people of Israel. It has always been my intention…
Passover Lambs and Chesed Community
Among messianic Jews much has been said concerning the parallels between the sacrifices of the paschal lamb and that of Yeshua. After all the paschal lamb was the Korban Pesach, the essential sacrifice which God commanded the children of Israel…
Shabbat Parah – Get Ready For Change
I have always thought that cheshbon hanefesh, literally a reckoning with one’s own soul was a practice most appropriate at the beginning of Elul, the month that preceded Rosh Hashanah. To this end Rabbi Israel Salanter, founder of the nineteenth…
Pekudei – The Future Is Now
Listen to an audio version When I was a boy in the 60’s my two favorite cartoons were the popular Flintstones and Jetsons. While Hanna-Barbera Studios produced both, the Flintstones was “the modern stone-age family” while the Jetsons was the…
Light Over Might
Listen to an audio version One of the primary messages of Chanukah is to avoid assimilation at all costs. But how often do we hear that the Chanukah story is about religious freedom? As if any religion would have been…
Vayeshev – Servants of The Holy Blessing One
Listen to an audio version So often it would seem that the focus within American Judaism is on impressive edifices, building funds, synagogue attendance and business protocols – and why not? These values merely mirror those of our everyday lives.…