Free Republic

My rabbi explained: One way to gain insight into what the mass of humanity believes and feels is to study its billboard and magazine advertising. Advertising themes which are recycled again and again are those themes which experience has proven successful, messages which strike responsive chords in the hearts of millions of people. And if we consider the tens of millions of dollars spent on advertising religion, one central theme stands out: "Turn to G-d—it will make you feel better." "The family that prays together, stays together"; "Something good is going to happen to you"; Catholic schools— schools with a...

"And six years you shall sow your land and you will gather its produce. And the seventh let it rest and lie fallow. Six days you shall do your work and on the seventh day you shall rest." (From this week's Torah portion, Mishpatim, Exodus 23: 10-12) The Land of Israel was given to us so that we could establish a 'kingdom of priests and a holy nation' that would crown the Creator over His world. That is the purpose of the Land of Israel, of Jerusalem and of the royal palace, the Temple on the Temple Mount. Those who...