Headlines »

March 25, 2024 – 8:50 pm | Comments Off on Why We Must Resist The Cease Fire Resolution46 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 …

Read the full story »
Parsha Insights

Where Biblical law and Torah tale is brought vividly to life

Concepts

The Jewish perspective on topical and controversial subjects

Life Cycle

Probing for meaning in our journey and its milestones.

Yearly Cycle

Discover depth and mystique in the annual Jewish festivals

Rabbi’s Desk

Seeking life’s lessons in news items and current events

Home » Archive by Category

Articles in Politics

Unrest in Israel

April 29, 2023 – 10:42 pm | Comments Off on Unrest in Israel448 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 …

Emor: Are Humans Good?

April 24, 2021 – 11:03 pm | Comments Off on Emor: Are Humans Good?1,049 views
humans-innerstream.ca

The other day, I asked several youngsters which is the most important species on earth. One raised his hand and suggested that we, humans, are most important. Another objected and said, that we are the worst offenders on the planet. Humans, she insisted are a horrible species.
I was taken aback …

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 …

B’haalotcha: The Individualized Collective

June 16, 2019 – 12:14 am | Comments Off on B’haalotcha: The Individualized Collective1,805 views
individualized-collective-innerstream.ca

An individualized collective is a collective that doesn’t require its members to surrender their individuality before joining the collective. On the surface, this sounds patently obvious; everyone ought to agree with it, right? Wrong. In real life it is very difficult to find the balance between the two. The great …

Bo: The Key Is Unity

February 1, 2017 – 9:37 pm | Comments Off on Bo: The Key Is Unity2,429 views
fostering unity - innerstream

Unity
The old saying, ‘united we stand, divided we fall’, conveys a pithy truth; if we knock others down on our path to success, it catches up with us in the long run and eventually knocks us down. What goes around comes around and no one is immune. We can’t grow …

Pinchas: From Tragedy to Joy

July 24, 2016 – 10:54 pm | Comments Off on Pinchas: From Tragedy to Joy2,701 views
tragedy-innerstream.ca

More Tragedy
As the summer months arrived, we learned of more black lives killed by police shootings. After the rash of police shootings last summer and the resultant furor, we would have expected the police to introduce responsible measures to reduce tragedy, but whatever measures were taken, were simply not enough. …

Korach: A True Debate

July 3, 2016 – 1:30 am | Comments Off on Korach: A True Debate5,784 views
true-debate-innerstream.ca

Political Debates
Election seasons are dramatic and engaging, but the candidate debates frustrate me. They resemble ancient gladiator battles, which make them entertaining, but they are not informative. In a true debate the purpose is finding the truth no matter who has it, in a political debate the purpose is scoring …

Shlach: Rewarding Excellence

June 25, 2016 – 11:08 pm | Comments Off on Shlach: Rewarding Excellence3,270 views
rewarding-excellence-innerstream.ca

Right not Fair
When my son joined little league I was surprised that all teams, losing and winning, received trophies. I realize that no one wants to brand their team a loser, but if everyone is rewarded, effort and excellence are not incentivized. It is only by rewarding excellence that we …