by Rabbi Tuly Weisz | f 24, 2022 | Antisemitism, Chosen Nation, Community, Covenant, God, Gratitude, Israel, Psalms, Tests and Trials
The recent surge in antisemitism from the Black Hebrew community regurgitates age-old tropes, namely that another group has replaced the Jews as God’s Chosen People. When Christianity first broke off from Judaism 2,000 years ago, the younger religion claimed that...
by Eliyahu Berkowitz | f 14, 2022 | God, Good and Evil, Justice, Psalms, Tests and Trials
David’s journey to kingship was not easy. Obstacles stood in his way and evil men attacked him. But David had a perspective on this that leveraged these difficulties to help his devotion to God. This was expressed in Psalm 11: Hashem seeks out the righteous man but...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 23, 2022 | Faith, God, Good and Evil, Gratitude, Psalms, Redemption, Temple, Tests and Trials
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz According to Jewish tradition, King David was the author of the Book of Psalms, known in Hebrew as Tehillim. Reading the Psalms, I always imagined a young David running around Israel, having adventures, suffering trials and tribulations, and...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 3, 2022 | Elul, Faith, Holiness, Prayer, Psalms, Purity, Repentance, Rosh Hashana, Tests and Trials
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz I had the remarkable merit of learning in Yeshiva (school for Torah study) with Barya Shachter, now a truly inspirational leader of a spiritual community. He is the son of Rabbi Zalman Shachter-Shalomi, the dynamic founder of the Jewish...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 22, 2022 | Community, Kindness and Compassion, Light Unto the Nations, Re’eih, Tests and Trials
Usually, it is only the significant events that we remember decades later. But I still remember every detail of what happened 23 years ago. I was on my way home from reserve duty and anxious to get home. It was evening and I had missed dinner. I had about half an hour...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 17, 2022 | Eikev, Free Will, God, Tests and Trials
I worked for a short period of time as an English teacher in an Israeli high school. I was not very good at it. I identified more with the students in the ongoing battle between the students and the school. One time, the head of the school forced me to give the kids...
