by Rabbi Pesach Wolicki | f 4, 2024 | Miracles, Zechariah
“So said the Lord of Hosts: Old men and old women will again sit in the squares of Jerusalem, each man with his cane in his hand due to advanced age. The squares of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its squares. So said the Lord of Hosts: If...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 4, 2024 | Revelation and Prophecy, Shavuot (Pentecost), Yitro
Jean-Jacques Rousseau once observed the remarkable resilience and enduring nature of Jewish people. In an unpublished document discovered after his death, Rousseau wrote: The Jews provide us with an astonishing spectacle: the laws of Numa, Lycurgus, Solon are dead;...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 1, 2024 | Zechariah
The city of “truth” This is the only place in the Bible where Jerusalem is called the “city of truth.” The Hebrew word for “truth” is emet. This word does not only mean “truth” as in the opposite of falsehood. The word emet also means “faithfulness” or “reliability.”...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 1, 2024 | Free Will, Proverbs
One of the fundamental principles of Biblical faith is that God has granted free will to human beings. Without free will, all our actions are meaningless. There is no basis for reward or punishment. In the absence of free will, there is neither piety nor wickedness....
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 31, 2024 | Faith, Va'etchanan
This commandment in this verse mandates the writing of this paragraph, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, as well as Deuteronomy 11:13-21, on a parchment scroll which is then mounted on the doorpost of the home. These two passages are “these words” that the Bible mandates to be...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 30, 2024 | Kindness and Compassion, Yitro
At the start of the Torah portion of Yitro (Exodus 18:1-20:22), we read about Jethro’s visit to Moses in the desert before the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Moved by the news of the remarkable miracles God had performed for the Israelites, including the...
