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March 25, 2024 – 8:50 pm | Comments Off on Why We Must Resist The Cease Fire Resolution40 views

Tzav: Fighting Evil
We are surrounded by evil; every so often, it rears its ugly head as it did on Simchat Torah—the October 7 massacre. Pure evil raped Jewish mothers, burned Jewish babies alive, mutilated their fathers, and beheaded their neighbors. Pure evil burned loving couples clinging to each other, to …

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Articles by Lazer Gurkow

Lech L’cha: True Faith

November 2, 2019 – 11:14 pm | Comments Off on Lech L’cha: True Faith1,442 views
true-faith-innerstream.ca

True faith is not easy to come by. Abraham possessed true faith, but most people in his generation were incapable of true faith until a particular event occurred that made it possible to achieve true faith.
Let me tell you two stories about Abraham:[1]
The first story: At the age of three, …

Noach: Public Policy

October 28, 2019 – 12:37 am | Comments Off on Noach: Public Policy1,400 views
public-policy-innerstream.ca

Public policy must be established on principle, not empathy, says Paul Bloom, a psychology professor at Yale and author of Against Empathy: The Case For Rational Compassion. Empathy plays a role when deciding how or how much we should personally help another in need, but public policy should never be …

Bereshit: Human Centric

October 22, 2019 – 10:06 pm | Comments Off on Bereshit: Human Centric1,409 views
human-centric-innerstream.ca

For millennia it was believed that the world is human centric, but science has slowly chipped away at this assumption.
From the day the first astronomer focused his gaze on the distant stars, humans postulated that our planet sits at the center of the universe and serves as the focal point …

Simchat Torah: No Break

October 20, 2019 – 12:31 pm | Comments Off on Simchat Torah: No Break2,144 views
no-break-innerstream.ca

On Simchat Torah we read the last passage of the Torah, but we don’t stop for even a moment when we finish reading the Torah. Instead, we turn around and start over immediately from the first verse. There are many celebrations on Simchat Torah, but they come before we read …

Sukkot: From the Fast to the Party

October 6, 2019 – 12:12 am | Comments Off on Sukkot: From the Fast to the Party1,562 views
the party-innerstream.ca

The party begins on Sukkot. The first ten days of the year are somber. Rosh Hashanah is the day of judgement, then next week are the days of repentance, and Yom Kippur is the fast. After the fast, our festivals take a radical turn and we move from the fast …

Shabbat Shuvah: The Uplifting Return

October 3, 2019 – 10:41 am | Comments Off on Shabbat Shuvah: The Uplifting Return20,814 views
return.innerstream.ca

The uplifting return that marks the first ten days of the Hebrew calendar year is expressed in the name that tradition has assigned to this Shabbat: Shabbat Shuvah, the Shabbat of return. In English, when we speak of regret and of turning over a new leaf, we call it repentance. …

Rosh Hashanah: Without A Crutch

September 22, 2019 – 2:11 pm | Comments Off on Rosh Hashanah: Without A Crutch1,510 views
crutch-innerstream.ca

A crutch can help you get past a difficult hump, but a crutch can also be a trap. When the time comes to discard the crutch, the crutch becomes a trap if you lack the courage to go without it. Athletes famously hold on to crutches. Wade Boggs was a …

Ki Tavo: The Enduring Soul

September 14, 2019 – 11:13 pm | Comments Off on Ki Tavo: The Enduring Soul1,413 views
enduring-soul-innerstream.ca

The enduring soul is our secret weapon.
If you were Abraham, a lonely man of faith, surrounded by powerful pagan nations who opposed your every effort to teach monotheism, would you believe that you would change the world? If you were alive in 069 and watched the powerful Roman army burn …