On the Reflective Power of Symbols
What can we do to ensure that our deepest, most enduring relationships remain effective, vibrant, and resonant? How do successful relationships survive the pressure of the tough times, or even just the eroding banality of mundane life? Ki Tavo tells of the establishment of a new covenant between Am Yisrael and HaShem.…
What Biblical Workers’ Rights can Teach us about Privatizing the Public Domain
The law locks up the man or woman Who steals the goose from off the common But leaves the greater villain loose Who steals the common from off the goose. The law demands that we atone When we take things we do not own But leaves the lords and ladies fine Who take things that are yours and mine.…
by Adam Cohen
Posted on September 1, 2022
https://openclipart.org/detail/284463/group-therapy Someone with a drug addiction has two main options when it comes to rehab, and both are completely different extremes. They could choose normality. I want to keep things as normal as possible, live my every-day life, have my family and friends there to support me and go to a rehab in my local community. …
by Adam Cohen
Posted on August 25, 2022
Do I kiss somebody because I love them or feel love for that person after I kiss them? William James does not think that we lose something valuable and cry because we are sad. Or that we meet a bear, are frightened and run.…
by Adam Cohen
Posted on August 18, 2022
A few months ago, I traveled to the Polish border with Ukraine, where a constant stream of refugees were arriving, having had their lives uprooted. Most had been on foot for several days, carrying little children and their belongings. They had walked about 25 miles, including a final 3 mile walk from the train station by the border.…
by Adam Cohen
Posted on August 11, 2022
In March 2020, a theory emerged that many people loved. By April 2020, it had been completely shot down. I am talking about the idea that coronavirus, or life in lockdown, had an equalizing effect. It did not discriminate against anyone!…
by Adam Cohen
Posted on August 4, 2022
Imagine you see a busker playing the violin in a train station. You give them money as you walk past and carry on with your day. But it is a shame in a way. Just 30 more seconds of your time and you could have taken this mitzvah to the next level.…
by Rabbi Yonah Berman
Posted on July 28, 2022
Masei, the second of our two parshiot this week, starts off “These are the journeys of the Israelites, who had left Egypt in organized groups under the leadership of Moshe and Aharon” (Num. 33:1). Abarbanel, a 15th and 16th Century Portuguese/Italian commentator, looks at this list and notices that some of the names don’t appear in any other places in the Torah.…
by Rabbi Yonah Berman
Posted on July 21, 2022
Zealots. Zeal. Zealotry. Zealousness. A term which is complicated and an ideal which is controversial in our tradition. It was the Zealots who, close to 2100 years ago, destroyed the granaries in Jerusalem, causing our ancestors to have to fight the Romans and ultimately lose the city to them.…
by Rabbi Yonah Berman
Posted on July 14, 2022
I recently traveled to Poland with a group of students from our Yeshiva. Our main goals were to help members of the Polish Jewish community prepare for Passover and to provide assistance to Ukrainian refugees, Jewish and non Jewish, as they crossed the border, fleeing the Russian invasion of their country.…
by eweinbach
Posted on July 7, 2022
Your community is running a fundraiser but you’ve never made fundraising calls before. Your synagogue needs a minyan but you are often late. A sick person down the block needs a visitor but you don’t know what to say. What if you mess up?…
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