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“Cantor Kaufman!” Rabbi Jonah Pesner shouted across the intersection of Third and D in Washington’s Northwest quadrant, packed sidewalk to sidewalk with women in pink pussycat hats and their male friends. “A song!” Jason Kaufman, the cantor at Beth El in Alexandria, Virginia, draped in a rainbow tallit and in the middle of telling a joke, cocked an eyebrow and pivoted gracefully from the guy hanging with his buddies at Saturday’s Women’s March on Washington to the religious leader ready to, well, lead. Kaufman’s rich tenor soared above the foggy chill and soon found company. The song was a natural...

The ten plagues that made G-d's name known in all the world happened many years ago in the land of Egypt. The process they began of bringing the knowledge of G-d's presence and power to all humankind for all generations continues till today. They resound and reverberate every time a Pharaoh arises and says "I do not know Hashem." RABBI CHAIM RICHMAN OF THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE / VIDEO LENGTH ~18m Parashat Vaera / פרשת וארא Torah Portion: Exodus 6:2 - 9:35. Parashat Vaera is the 14th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. Next: Parashat Bo...

Sixty years havee lapsed since the Baghdad Pact which grouped together Turkey, Iran, Iraq and the West in an alliance against the Soviet Union and the concomitant Communist danger. Nowadays this Middle Eastern architecture has shifted 180 degrees to where Russia, Turkey and Iran are in an ad hoc alliance against Islamic State but which may turn against the West as well. Still, the new alliance might be termed as a marriage of inconvenience where each of the parties has different motives and is acting at cross purposes in partitioning the Syrian bear. Russia has fulfilled a long-held dream of...

The saga of Julie Goffstein and her children needs to make all of us demand better. A travesty was done to children who were ripped apart from a loving and by all accounts good mother, from their heritage and from their way of life. Moreover, the tragic injustice done in this case should send shivers down the spines of every homeschooling advocate in the nation. Julie was a loving mother of 6 boys, ages 5-15. She raised them with great care for their physical needs, their spiritual wellbeing and their personal development. Eleven character witnesses testified as to this at...

This week we excitedly begin a new book of the Torah. When we read a book, any book, someone might ask us: "What is it about?" It is sometimes difficult to encapsulate a book in a short phrase or comment, but it is a task that forces us to think about the central messages and to examine the storyline of the book in question. This is true about the Torah as well. Many of our sages tried to give titles or themes for the books of Chumash. As we begin Sefer Shemot, we might want to think about the central...

“And I will surely hide My face in that day for all the evil which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.” Deuteronomy 31:18 (The Israel Bible™) In two separate sets of Bible Codes, published three months apart, international Bible Codes expert Rabbi Matityahu Glazerson found evidence that Donald J. Trump will win the upcoming US presidential election. What’s more, Trump’s predicted win appears to be connected to his support for Israel. The first table was published on July 6, 2016. In this table, which comes from the Book of Deuteronomy, Rabbi Glazerson pointed to...

This week the Rabbi answers the question: "How can you live a great life despite all obstacles?" Enjoy this video of what we hope will be a weekly endeavor into spreading the educational words of our Torah. Parashat Vayechi / פרשת ויחי Next read in the Diaspora on 14 January 2017. Parashat Vayechi is the 12th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. This is the final Genesis portion. Torah Portion: Genesis 47:28 - 50:26 Upcoming:Parashat Shemot / פרשת שמות Next read in the Diaspora on 21 January 2017. Parashat Shemot is the 13th weekly Torah...

The current year of AD 2017 is upon us, and with it comes several important historical anniversary dates for the nation of Israel specifically; and the Gentile nations in general. 2018 is a very significant year as well. August 31, 2017 marks the 120th anniversary of the First Zionist Congress organized by Theodore Herzl in 1897. Held in Basel , Switzerland , the gathering defied the purpose of Zionism as a movement aimed at obtaining a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. guaranteed by public law. Israel will celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, which...

Often people hurt us in many different ways. The Torah is requiring me to forgive them. why? Why did Yosef Hatzadik was so quick to forgive his brothers?

Rabbi Tovia Singer responds to a former Arab Muslim woman regarding her conversion to Conservative Judaism.

Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi explains why some prayers are answered and some aren't.

Happy Chanukah 5777מי שמאמין לא מפחד MI SHEMA'AMIN LO MEFACHED Those Who Believe Have No Fear HASHEM MELECH HASHEM MALACH HASHEM YIMLOCH L'OLAM VA ED

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday evening called on the Ukrainian government to take action following the desecration of the grave of Rabbi Nachman in Uman. Netanyahu’s comment came during an online chat with Facebook users. During the chat, the Prime Minister was seen taking a phone call from a person named Yuval, believed to be Yuval Rotem, Director General of the Foreign Ministry. "This must be taken care of,” Netanyahu told Yuval. "The ambassador there should go to the government and tell them that it is simply unacceptable, simply awful, I want them to deal with it.” He added,...

EW YORK (JTA) – Conservative Rabbi Seymour Rosenbloom has been expelled from the Rabbinical Assembly, the movement’s rabbis’ association, for performing interfaith weddings. An ordained Conservative rabbi for 44 years, Rosenbloom was expelled by unanimous vote last month after a hearing of the R.A.’s Executive Council. Since 1972, the Conservative movement has prohibited its rabbis from officiating at or even attending intermarriages. Rosenbloom told JTA the council offered to retain his membership in exchange for a promise not to perform any more intermarriages. Rosenbloom declined the offer.

Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi lectures on whether or not it's permissible to save a dying non-Jew on Shabbat. This is a Jewish caucus thread. If you don't consider yourself a Jew, don't post in this thread. No 'witnessing' will be tolerated, so if you aren't a Jew and wish to participate in this thread, send me a FReepmail and I'll ping you to the thread. Caucus rules are here.

The Jewish Federation of Cleveland is urging the local Jewish community to contact Ohio Gov. John Kasich and urge him to veto a bill that would ban almost all abortions after an unborn baby’s heart begins to beat, the Cleveland Jewish News reports. The Ohio state legislature recently gave final approve to legislation that would ban all abortions after an unborn baby’s heart begins to beat. The Ohio House and Senate also approved the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (S.B. 127), landmark legislation which poses a historic challenge to Roe v. Wade. The bills now head to the desk of...

On Tuesday Dec 13, my niece Diane will have a very serious cancer operation to remove cancer infected tumors from her thyroid area. Please keep her in your prayers.

The BBC conceded it was false to describe the Church as being 'silent' in the face of NazismThe BBC’s internal watchdog has found that a programme wrongly accused the Catholic Church of “silence” about the Holocaust.After Pope Francis’s visit to Auschwitz in July, BBC One’s 6pm news bulletin carried a report which stated: “Silence was the response of the Catholic Church when Nazi Germany demonised Jewish people and then attempted to eradicate Jews from Europe.”In response, the cross-bench peer Lord Alton of Liverpool and Fr Leo Chamberlain, the former headmaster of Ampleforth, made an official complaint.Nearly six months later, the BBC’s...

This is the post-election lecture by Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi. It's long but very important. There are some statements made regarding various Jewish movements. Don't let that deter you, as you may agree with the other 98% of what he says. Mashiach is mentioned. Many American rabbis are having a similar conversation with their communities. This is a Jewish caucus thread. If you don't consider yourself a Jew, don't post in this thread. No 'witnessing' will be tolerated, so if you aren't a Jew and wish to participate in this thread, send me a FReepmail and I'll ping you to the...

At 6 pm EST begins the live broadcast of the annual gathering of Chabad emissaries-- rabbis "stationed" in college campuses and cities all over the world. The live broadcast of the gala banquet includes the famous roll-call, with countries as far as Chabad of Napal to as close to home as Park Slope in Brooklyn. Tune in, celebrate, and dance with the chassidim of the Rebbe, as they aspire and inspire each other to "turn over the world" for G-d.