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Pro-life and abortion activists alike gathered outside the U.S. Supreme Court building today awaiting the hearing on an important abortion case out of Texas. The U.S. Supreme Court case Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt was bought by abortion businesses against a pro-life Texas law responsible for closing abortion clinics that could not guarantee they could protect the health of Texas women. The law has been credited with saving the lives of more than 10,000 unborn children. Among the pro-abortion speakers was the Rev. Debra Haffner, a Jewish Unitarian Universalist who “preached” in favor of abortion in front of the Supreme...

Like most religious cultures, Judaism is struggling to bridge the gap between tradition and the modern world. There seem to be many different contradictory interpretations of Jewish traditions and many wrestle to find the answers to common questions regarding the stereotypes, rules, and regulations. YouTube

< snip > Gold well spent on holiness and goodness atones for gold badly misspent on idolatry and wanton behavior. This idea is very much in line with the Jewish concept of repentance, which sees the penitent being in the same position and circumstances as when he originally sinned but no longer behaving sinfully in those circumstances. It is truly wise to avoid temptation but it is heroic and noble to overcome it. < snip > We live in a transformative generation regarding communication and interpersonal connections. Unfortunately, much of this technological achievement has been exploited for base and harmful...

The words that we use matter. When we speak using terms from Torah, our intention is clear. We believe that Torah is the source of our moral values. But once we start using English terms and ideas, we enter a dangerous philosophical minefield. We use words thinking that we’re expressing Torah ideas, but without realizing it, we are employing secular ideas as well. One prime example is "human rights." People use this term as if it's some kind of innate, obvious Truth, yet they fail to explain why it is so. Where oh where do these "human rights" come from...

https://youtu.be/XTP0j3p01Dg?t=6m21s

If you look at an English translation of Ex 18:4, (NIV) and the other was named Eliezer, for he said, "My father's God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh." all versions refer to Eliezer as "the other," when in fact this is a mistranslation of the Hebrew original. In Hebrew Moses' children are referred to as: ...ONE of whom was named Gershom....and ONE of whom was named Eliezer. Whenever there are seeming errors in grammar or syntax, the rabbis expound... The attached class explored the deeper meaning behind this "mistake" in the text of our...

Yitro is one of the most enigmatic figures in the entire Torah. He is introduced to us as an adviser to Pharaoh (Sotah 11a) who was told about a plan to enslave and kill members of the Hebrew nation living in Egypt. In that meeting, Yitro counseled the Egyptian monarch not to harm the Hebrews. His first appearance in the lines of the written Torah occurs in parashat Shemos, as the father of Tziporah, who would marry Moshe Rabbeinu. In this week's parshah, Yitro comes with his daughter and grandsons and meets up with Moshe in the wilderness. Though warmly...

Victims of Arab TerrorIf one wants to comprehend the cruel ideology of Amalek, of a society so steeped in collective evil that the Torah insists upon collective destruction, one need only look at the latest Arab atrocity in the southern community of Otniel. A fifteen year old Arab teenager entered the home of Dafna Meir (may G-d avenge her blood!) and stabbed her to death in front of her children. A fifteen-year-old monster, whose father celebrated his murderous act. Arab society breeds such evil. In all likelihood, Dafna's killer was groomed to murder Jews from conception. Yet another Arab with...

Venerable Engelmar Unzeitig, CMM, whom Pope Francis declared a martyr last week. Credit: (c) Archiv Redaktion Mariannhill, Reimlingen via engelmarunzeitig.de. Vatican City, Jan 26, 2016 / 06:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Fr. Engelmar Unzeitig, a young priest with Czech roots serving in Germany and Austria, was arrested by the Nazis on April 21, 1941.His crime? Preaching against the Third Reich from his pulpit, particularly against their treatment of the Jewish people. He encouraged his congregation to be faithful to God and to resist the lies of the Nazi regime.As punishment, Fr. Unzeitig was sent to what has been called the "largest...

On the surface, it looks like Pope Francis and the Jews are cozying up to one another and becoming besties. Below the surface, an End of Days prophecy that pits Rome against Jerusalem is playing out. That’s the contention of Rabbi Tovia Singer, a Jewish expert in both Hebrew and Christian Scripture and director of the counter-missionary organization, Outreach Judaism. Singer opens his case by noting the proximity of two recent news items. \

He said it during the meeting with the pope at the synagogue. And it is the refusal to "discuss theology" with the Catholic Church. Because of Jewish fears of a blurring of that which distinguishes them from Christians? ROME, January 23, 2016 - In the Catholic camp almost no one made note of it. But in the Jewish camp they did. And it is that curt "no" which the chief rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, said to Pope Francis during his visit to the synagogue on Sunday, January 17: "We do not receive the pope in order to discuss...

Brothers and sisters of the Most High (to quote Rabbi Singer,) Come hear a short discussion on the meaning of "sabbath," and how it's translation into English Bibles leads to misguided, not-Jewish (and even not-standard-Christian) interpretations. Apologies to the host's use of the word "conspiracy" in the beginning of the discussion regarding the Christian doctrine of Lunar Sabbaths-- he's usually pretty sensitive. Rabbi Singer is always sensitive but pulls no punches, allegorically (I mean, come on-- he's a rabbi-- who's he gonna fight literally?)

Nowadays, we consider ourselves too sophisticated to relinquish the God of the philosophers in favor of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But thereby we miss a wonderful spiritual opportunity. One does not need academic training to achieve spiritual experience, nor does one need to be a theologian to serve the Almighty. All one needs is emuna peshuta, the kind of faith that the simple maidservant of the Midrash on this week's Torah portion modeled for us.

Six months ago I wrote about Tu B'Av, a Yom Tov that brings hope after the terrible events of Tisha B'Av. There is something about the fifteenth day of the Jewish month that relates to redemption. The first day of Pesach and the first day of Sukkos, as well as Tu B'Shevat and Shushan Purim, all occur on the fifteenth of the month. As we approach Tu B'Shevat, an appropriate question would be: Why is the fifteenth so special that momentous days of redemption consistently fall upon that day? What sets it apart from all the other days of the...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ALxcFRxucE

But giving Nostra Aetate such weight, despite it only being a declaration and not a doctrinal text, has led some to see it as having a revolutionary impact, possibly breaking with nearly two millennia of Church teaching and tradition. Documents from the Councils of Florence 1438-1445 and Trent 1545-1563 seem to radically contradict the current teaching, leading some to believe this not to be a development of doctrine but a corruption of it.

"Justice, justice, shall you pursue, that you thrive and occupy the land that the L-rd your G-d is giving you. (Deuteronomy 16:20) JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh Duma. Once upon a time, my only association with this unusual word was from a work of horror fiction from American novelist, Stephen King, "Duma Key." That association is gone forever. Non-fiction replaces fiction. Other horrors, true nightmares in every sense of the word, now come to mind. The Arab town of Duma. Some words transcend a specific time, place, or geological location. Deir Yassin was one such place. Duma will become another. It will...

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Maybe it's the centuries of living under Christian and Muslim rule. Maybe it's the history of forced conversion. Maybe it's that there's no religion requirement for the Jewish afterlife. Whatever the reasons, Jews have traditionally been uncomfortable proselytizing. But a Maryland foundation is flouting the taboo by funding outreach programs to non-Jews in an effort to bring them into the fold. "Our primary purpose is to support programs that publicize Judaism to non-Jews," Ellen Gerecht, executive director of the National Center to Encourage Judaism, says from her second-floor office in Silver Spring, Maryland. "We think Judaism has a lot to...

More than 25 prominent rabbis from Israel and abroad recently issued a statement calling for a renewed look at Jesus, Christians and the New Testament faith. Quoting from their own sages, these outstanding Orthodox rabbis are not ashamed to exalt the name of Jesus, welcoming the carpenter from Nazareth back into the Jewish fold.