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September 19, 2023 – 8:31 pm | 59 views

Get your head in the game is a common refrain among athletes. Distraction is the last thing athletes can afford. It interferes with their rhythm, disturbs their focus, and wreaks havoc on their stamina. Coaches are often overheard telling players to get their heads in the game.
Judaism is no different. …

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Articles in Israel

A Message of Comfort

July 23, 2023 – 1:59 pm | 184 views
comfort

On the Shabbat after Tishah Be’av, we seek comfort and inspiration. The Torah portion that we read this week serves up heaping portions of inspirational tidbits on generous platters. But it begins with a morbid moment: G-d refusing Moses’ plea to enter Israel.
On Tishah Be’av our people were exiled from …

Life Is Not a Game of Chance

July 1, 2023 – 11:39 pm | 229 views
game of chance

Is life a game of chance? Everyone I know would say no. We don’t like to leave anything to chance. We make deliberate choices about the schools we attend, the friends we embrace, the careers we pursue, and the hobbies we adopt. Most of us have short and long-term goals. …

Unrest in Israel

April 29, 2023 – 10:42 pm | 278 views
unrest in israel

The current unrest in Israel is not about the state of its democracy or the role of its judiciary.  As many analysts have correctly surmised, the tensions are over the direction and soul of the country. The modern state of Israel was founded by secular Zionism, which established a secular …

B’ha’alotcha: Tithe for Israel

May 23, 2021 – 12:05 am | 852 views
Israel-innerstream.ca

Israel seems to be a recurring problem for the Jewish people. Ever since Joshua conquered the land, nations have tried to wrest it from us. Our ancestors fought recurring battles against the Moabites, Midianites, Canaanites, Amalekites, Ammonites, and Philistines. Later came the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and finally, the Romans, …

Bamidbar: Israel Is On Fire

May 12, 2021 – 11:12 pm | 2 Comments | 25,005 views
israel-is-on-fire

Israel is on fire this week and we live in an age where this cannot be denied. Footage of skies filled with rockets fired maliciously into densely populated neighborhoods, flood our social media accounts daily. Our brethren live in shelters and too many have been struck. The iron dome is …

Shemot: A Jew In Exile

December 22, 2018 – 11:33 pm | 1,737 views
in-exile-innerstream.ca

When Moses stood before the burning bush, G-d said to him, “I have seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their slave drivers.” Two verses later, G-d said: “And now, the cry of the children of Israel has come …

Nitzavim: Democracy in Israel

September 2, 2018 – 5:37 pm | One Comment | 5,033 views
democracy-innerstream.ca

Is Israel a democracy or a theocracy? Here is the story:
The Tel Aviv municipality and the Ayalon Highway Company plan to build a new pedestrian and cycling bridge that would cross the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, one of the country’s most congested freeways.
The Ayalon Highway Company planned to shut …

Ki Tavo: Onward to Israel

August 25, 2018 – 9:53 pm | 1,991 views
israel-innerstream.ca

Israel is our homeland. It is a holy and G-dly land on which G-d keeps a very careful eye. Our sages taught that the very air one breathes in Israel makes one wise to the ways of Torah. Our sages used to bend to kiss the stones of Israel when …