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![]() Lazer GurkowThe Times of Israel (Blogs) |
If G-d knows what we will choose before we choose it, do we have free choice? We discussed this question several times, but I want to deal with it...
Do we have the courage to be free? As we read about our ancestors leaving Egypt, we realize that they took a huge leap of faith. In retrospect it...
This week we are introduced to the ten plagues. Seven plagues appear in our Torah portion and the last three appear in next week’s Torah portion....
Is there a uniquely Jewish cry or do Jews cry like everyone else? On the surface, the Jewish cry is no different than the non-Jewish cry. But the...
This week we are introduced to the diaspora Jew. Until this point, the Torah was concerned with holy people who lived in holy places (except for...
Today, I want to talk to you the time Joseph instructed his father to, “Come down to me.” Joseph was viceroy of Egypt—the only country with...
The Chanukah lights broadcast a simple message: you are good. Sometimes we think that if we lose our jobs, our relationships fail, succumb to...
Since the Renaissance, the traditions of Western civilization were rooted in scripture. Western values derived their meaning and authenticity from the...
Sometimes it is hard to feel that G-d is in our corner. It feels as if Murphy’s Law is G-d’s Law. Everything that could go wrong, does, and G-d...
On his deathbed, King Yanai warned his wife Shelomtziyon to beware of the hypocrite. Fear not the Pharisees, though I have waged war against them all...
Life is a long human struggle. Animals don’t struggle. For them, life is simple. They have only one objective. To live and perpetuate their kind....
Have you ever heard of a Jewish sole? Not a Jewish soul, a Jewish sole. No, I am not talking about a fish, nor am I not talking about a sole...
When G-d told Abraham to travel from the home he had built in Haran to Israel, he and Sarah gathered their household and went. Who were the members of...
Believe in yourself is a common mantra these days, but it is sadly not as common in real life. Though we live in an age of unprecedented success and...
Loving talk is not only G-d’s preferred language; it is built into the very fabric of creation. “In the beginning, G-d created the heaven and the...
Hakhel: an international gathering of all Jews, men, women, and children, would take place once every seven years in Jerusalem. A platform would be...
Freedom of thought is a G-d given right. In communist and socialist countries, the individual is made to cede to the collective. In dictatorships the...
The days of reckoning are here, and it is time for the loving exam. Most exams are associated with tension and trepidation. Irrespective of how well...
To know it or to prove it, which is better? Most people would say that being able to prove something is better. Proof is the holy grail. If you have...
Which is better, unity with differences or unity without differences? Most people would say unity without differences is better, but Judaism...
The Torah tells us to appoint judges and guardians at the gates of our cities. The city’s gathering place was usually at the gates, making it the...
Refuge is discussed often in the Torah. When a Jew killed another inadvertently, he was required to flee to a city of refuge, where he was given...
When I lived in California people complained that they missed the seasons. I always wondered about that. Having come from the East Coast, I often told...
Today we have Myoffice, Mydrive, my-everything, so why not My-Shabbat? At first blush, it ought to be our Shabbat, or most appropriately G-d’s...
It is forbidden to fast on Shabbat. In fact, if we fast on Shabbat (even with halachic sanction) we must fast on a different day to atone for fasting...