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February 15, 2025 – 10:18 pm | Comments Off on Never Tell A Lie10 views

Our sages were fence builders—not in the conventional sense, but metaphorically. The Torah presents many prohibitions, and our sages built fences around them to ensure we do not step over the line. For example, the Torah tells us not to write on Shabbat, and our sages prohibited even holding a …

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Articles in D’varim

Nitzavim: Tears of Joy

August 28, 2021 – 10:57 pm | Comments Off on Nitzavim: Tears of Joy2,478 views
tears-innerstream.ca

 The eyes of a Jew on Rosh Hashanah—the annual day of judgment, are often filled with tears and remorse. We know we will be judged for our behavior. We also know that some of our behavior has been compulsive, some of our personality has been toxic, and some of our …

Ki Tavo: The Joy Imperative

August 20, 2021 – 2:17 pm | Comments Off on Ki Tavo: The Joy Imperative1,143 views
joy

Joy is an imperative in the Jewish tradition. In describing the terrible calamities in store for our people if we turn from G-d, the Torah says it will occur, “because you did not serve G-d, your G-d, with happiness and gladness of heart, when [you had an] abundance of everything.”[1]
In …

Ki Tetze: A License To Eat

August 14, 2021 – 10:52 pm | Comments Off on Ki Tetze: A License To Eat1,138 views
not yours - innerstream.ca

When you work in your fellow’s vineyard, you have a license to eat his grapes. When you visit your neighbor’s vineyard, you don’t have a license to eat. If you pluck a grape during a visit without permission, it is theft.
How much can you eat if you work in the …

Shoftim: The Individual

August 10, 2021 – 9:53 pm | Comments Off on Shoftim: The Individual1,069 views
individual-innerstream.ca

Today I want to talk to you about the individual. When nations go to war, they institute mandatory drafts. Wartime drafts are different from peacetime drafts. In peacetime drafts, soldiers are eligible for all kinds of exemptions. During war, everyone must serve. Exemptions are rare.
In Jewish law, however, it is …

Re’e: The Pivot

July 31, 2021 – 11:11 pm | Comments Off on Re’e: The Pivot1,264 views
pivot-innerstream.ca

In the course of life, there are always moments of pivot. A moment when we recognize that we have strayed from the proper path, and we pivot—reverse course and head in the opposite direction. The moment of pivot is, at the risk of sounding cliché, pivotal. It isn’t merely a …

Vaetchanan: The Full Moon

July 18, 2021 – 7:14 pm | Comments Off on Vaetchanan: The Full Moon1,376 views
full-moon

This Shabbat will be special because the full moon will shine on Friday night. The full moon occurs every month but is most important in the month of Av. The Temple’s destruction on the ninth day of this month was the low point in Jewish history. At that time, it …

Devarim: Response to Suffering

July 10, 2021 – 10:35 pm | Comments Off on Devarim: Response to Suffering1,905 views
faith and suffering - innerstream

Suffering is sadly familiar to Jews. We have a long and painful history of suffering. Our sages taught that the Torah was given on Mount Sinai because Sinai is etymologically similar to sinah, which means hatred. From the day that we were chosen to become a light unto the nations, …

Nitzavim Vayelech: A Nation of One

September 5, 2020 – 10:29 pm | Comments Off on Nitzavim Vayelech: A Nation of One1,736 views
nation-of-one-innersteram.ca

The Torah portion that we read this Shabbat describes the Jewish people as a nation of one. “You all stand this day before G-d, your G-d the leaders, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, every man of Israel. your young children, your women, and your convert within your camp, …