Religion
G-d is not an Orthodox Jew, nor is G-d Conservative or Reform. What about you?
It isn’t what you think it is. It isn’t cold, it isn’t irrelevant, it isn’t biased, and it certainly isn’t chauvinistic. Religion gets a very bad rap. But Religion is to existence what notes and scales are to music; Religion is to humanity what grammar is to language. Religion is but a highly sophisticated system of spiritually mathematical rules that allow us to experience life and reality in a deeply meaningful way. The challenge of course is discovering the music in the notes, lest it be coerced piano lessons all over again. And this discovery is why you are here.
Vayishlach: Hypocrisy
Instead of seeing hypocrisy in our inconsistencies, we should be seeing in them our struggle to discover our true selves—a struggle that inevitably creates a dichotomy between what you believe and what you do.
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Vayeishev: Didgeridoo
A didgeridoo, also known as a didge, is considered to be the world’s oldest wind instrument. Jewish spiritual connection to the didgeridoo…
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Vayechi: 2500 Seekers
Let us always remember that whomever you meet in the coming year will not be an accident. It will be an opportunity – a dual opportunity: For you to illuminate, inspire and warm that person’s soul, to inspire encourage that person to add and extra good deed; and for you to be illuminated and inspired in return.
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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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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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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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Passover: Steve Jobs and Passover
The iPad mania reflects the design and marketing genius of Steve Jobs and his gifted team. But it also reveals the gaping vacuum in our lack of spiritual visionaries.
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Time To Sing
I realized and continue to realize the deep grief of so many tormented souls; children whose lives were forever altered because of a self-indulgent, sick adult.
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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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Rosh Hashana: New Year 5772
If we only allow ourselves to pull ourselves a bit back and out from our enmeshed lives, we can transcend many of our doubts, and see new opportunities, as an old world gives way to a new one.
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