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| Weekly Torah Portion |
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A person must not descend to the level of objects and phenomena. He must ascend to holiness |
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Amidst all of our material progress, we must strive to become worthy people in the likeness of the Creator |
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We should not use Halakcah to deny human nature, and we may not use God as an excuse for insensitivity to the needs of others |
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If our place is between heaven and earth, let us reflect upon our relationship with the earth, and remember that true repentance changes us and repairs what we have done |
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Every Jew must search his deeds and repent on his own |
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By far the dominant view in Judaism is that of Rashi, which allows for the coexistence of reason and revelation as two sources of truth in arriving at the law |
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Religious extremism is not a sign of strength but of weakness and insecurity |
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God seeks to teach the Israelites then, and all of us in every generation, the way that parents teach their children: sometimes the hard way, but always with love |
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On the twilight of a leader, responsibility and the orderly transfer of power |
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We learn from the biblical story that we are a nation on a journey that has not yet ended, and the nation has not yet learned all that it must to understand its destiny |
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Faith that God’s compassion extends equally to all is the belief that now motivates women and men to challenge routine discrimination against women |
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How sad and ironic: We lesser mortals are the inheritors of the Land while Moses, the worthiest of all, lies in an unmarked grave over the Jordan |
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In the name of democracy, Korah claims that all the people are worthy of the mantle of leadership |
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Weaknesses represented in Israel's transgressions in the desert manifest themselves over and over in history of Jewish people |
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One of the lessons that we may learn from the sotah narrative is a warning against the destructive force of absolute control of one sex over the other |
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When a family is rife with injustice, inequality and discrimination, how can children be expected to grow up to lead lives premised upon equality? |
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The inexorable fact of life is that we can build self-confidence by living through hard circumstances |
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In Parashat Emor three forms of holiness join together: The holiness of the person, of time and of place |
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The rituals and sacrifices of the Temple are all symbolically tied to the profound fear of death and to the miracle of life |
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The immense religious energy must flow through channels – the mitzvoth, otherwise the spiritual energy might leak |
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We may not have known our great grandfather, but we know with certainty what he was doing on seder night 150 years ago. This is the night we declare that we have roots |
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The Hebrew University was founded on Mount Scopus, opposite the Temple Mount. Is this the third temple? |
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Moses, Aaron and Hur represent three kinds of Jewish leadership |
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International Women's Day is celebrated between Purim and Passover. According to rabbi Kelman, there's a reason for that |
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One must read the Megilla as if it the story is unfolding right now and not just as a past event |
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Why does the Torah require that the High Priest wear beautiful vestments? |
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By going the distance to change ourselves and overcome obstacles, we can become something greater than who we naturally are |
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For our Sages, trees were alive in a way which they rarely are for us |
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What to do with hametz? Giving it to the poor might be beautiful solution |
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When Moses is full of skepticism, people are not; but when Moses himself is convinced, people have lost their own sense of conviction |
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For the first time, we read God's name. This is the true meaning of God |
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Biblical Joseph told his brothers to be careful in their desert journey. It's about time we listened |
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Figure that will give rise to Israel’s mythic leader is measured by his ability to evaluate a situation, act and take responsibility for consequences |
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God protects us by reminding us that justice is never a game with rules that can be bent |
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Bible does not say 'Love Thy Brother.' It says 'Love Thy Fellow' |
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This week's parasha demonstrates respect our ancestors showed toward religious beliefs of residents of Canaan. We all should learn the lesson |
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Just as a family is not referred to by son’s name until father dies, so God is not referred to by name of a member of Israel until his father has passed on |
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We've been taught that biblical Jacob was a righteous man, but is it possible that as a fetus he was a fraud? |
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We learn from Rebecca that no matter what a person's background is, one can always change, exceed limitations and boundaries |
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In midrash, Abraham is mentioned more than twice as often as Sarah. Let’s examine a few midrashim in hope of leveling playing field |
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The test of a believer is in the ability to accept God’s judgment, even when it appears immoral and arbitrary |
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By helping others, improving our sense of morality, we can reveal Godly spark within ourselves |
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although G-d may be hidden, he is not hidden far away |
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Story of Tower of Babel tells us that God’s fears cannot be judged by human standards |
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Bible tells us that we are descendants of Cain, as much as of Noah. Cain’s descendant’s are all around us, and they are we |
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The significance of the Torah’s boundaries in a spiritual world |
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Sitting in sukkah – in a booth unsupported by heavy steel beams – defies material enslavement that imprisons us |
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Most Jews do not perform mitzvah of waving lulav on Shabbat. What is the basis for these differing practices? |
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The five letters of the word Teshuva each stand for a different part of Teshuva |
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On Shabbat Shuva, with Yom Kippur approaching, it is fitting that we focus upon this thought: Human life is a supreme value |
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It’s not enough for us to do the right thing more often than the wrong thing, but rather we need to be committed to always do the right thing |
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Teshuva can’t always be achieved on our own, and we need to pray for it to happen |
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The Talmud connects the shofar blasts to Siserah, sworn enemy of Jewish people |
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Rabbi Akivah was first one to pray 'Avinu Malkeinu' combination. The result was bountiful rain |
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Proper translation of Hayom Harat Olam is 'today is the day the world is pregnant.' What does that mean? |
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When one does Teshuva motivated by love, sins can become merits because they're impetus to a real self improvement, move towards God |
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Teshuva is a life long process. It's commandment, but there is also a reality of self control, struggle |
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War is necessary to preserve life's routine, but if we don't win it, our soldiers would die in vain |
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We have an opportunity to renew ourselves, to go from confidence to fear and to conclude |
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Learning to be a caring person who helps everyone, cares for everyone isn’t a thought process, it’s action, and that’s what Elul and Teshuva are all about |
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God can distinguish between sincere and insincere forgiveness, and those who seek forgiveness even as they intend to sin again will not be forgiven |
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On Rosh Hashanah on Shabbat, it becomes inappropriate to carry the Shofar, because the main theme of the prayer of Rosh Hashanah is the equality of the human race |
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