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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 B’Chukotai

Charity Without Poverty

May 6, 2023 – 11:04 pm | 329 views
charity without poverty

Can there be charity without poverty?
The world is on a warpath to eradicate poverty. Many billionaires, and wealthy developed countries, are investing heavily in poorer countries and hope to eradicate poverty by 2030. If that happens, the question is, what will happen to charity? Will it become a thing of …

The Minyan Effect

May 20, 2022 – 8:00 pm | 761 views
minyan-innerstream.ca

Minyan is a quorum of ten and it is a Jewish tradition to pray with a quorum. In fact, the holiest parts of prayer, the sanctification of G-d’s name and the chanting from the Torah, may only occur in the presence of a minyan. We believe that our prayers have …

Behar Bechukosai: Fool Yourself

May 1, 2021 – 11:20 pm | 891 views
fool-yourelf-innerstream.ca

Do you ever fool yourself? The answer is likely yes because we all do. Every time you something wrong and find a circuitous argument to justify your behavior, you fool yourself.
The Torah forbids defrauding others in business. When you sell or buy from your fellow, do not wrong him. If …

Bechukoti: Retroactive Sin

May 27, 2019 – 1:03 pm | 1,593 views
sin-innerstream.ca

Sin is a terrible thing. First, it tempts me, then it punishes me. Why does G-d play this elaborate game with me? Why does He allow me to sin, and then punish me for having sinned?
I am not asking why He permits me to choose. I know the answer to …

B’har Bechukotai: Grassroots Jews

May 13, 2017 – 11:49 pm | 2,515 views
grassroots-innerstream.ca

Is It You?
Every movement likes to call itself “grassroots” because that means it arose from the people. It is better to lead a movement that everyone wants than a movement whose momentum is artificially generated. Grassroots means that the people’s desire generated the movement. When the desire generates a movement, …

Bechukotai: Labor over Torah

May 28, 2016 – 11:32 pm | 3,246 views
learn for yourself - innerstream

True Labor
The first Mitzvah that the Almighty singles out for reward in our Parsha is that of Torah study.[1] But we aren’t rewarded for the mere study of Torah. We are rewarded for laboring over the Torah. It has been pointed out that this is the only instance where labor …

Bechukosai: The Gender Crisis

May 28, 2016 – 11:22 pm | 2,826 views
gender-innerstream.ca

Gender Issues
Even if you live in a cave somewhere in the mountains of Tibet, you have likely heard of the North Carolina Bathroom Bill that requires people to use the bathroom of their birth gender. This law has sparked a gender crisis because there are increasingly those who don’t identify …

Bechukotai: Active Listening

May 11, 2014 – 3:56 am | One Comment | 3,788 views
active listening - innerstream.ca

Sight
Do you practice Active Listening?
I remember standing on a cliff high above the Pacific Ocean in Central California, gazing down at the blue waters, shimmering waves and bright sunlight. I was transfixed, utterly and completely absorbed by the scene. Having lost all critical thought, I was aware of only one …