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March 25, 2024 – 8:50 pm | Comments Off on Why We Must Resist The Cease Fire Resolution36 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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Passover: Four Problems Four Solutions

April 10, 2022 – 12:33 am | Comments Off on Passover: Four Problems Four Solutions1,060 views
four-innerstream.ca

Passover seems obsessed with the number four. We drink four cups of wine, children ask four questions, and four sons ask questions in the Hagadah.  It is the evening of questions and answers, of learning and discussion, and it all centers around four.
You see, there are four sons, the wise …

Tazria: When Will Mashiach Come

March 27, 2022 – 12:09 am | Comments Off on Tazria: When Will Mashiach Come897 views
Mashiach-innerstream.ca

We are entering the month of Nisan, a month of overarching growth. I call it overarching because the growth exceeds any effort that we might invest. When our ancestors were in Egypt, they didn’t work to secure their liberation from bondage. It was handed to them freely by G-d. Nothing …

Purim: The Boring Moments

March 12, 2022 – 9:47 pm | Comments Off on Purim: The Boring Moments922 views
boring-moments

The boring moments are, well, boring. Why do we need them, can’t G-d just give us a short life filled with thrills rather than a long life with long stretches of boring moments? Who wants to be stuck in traffic or wait on line at the supermarket? Who wants to …

Chanukah: The Dreidel

November 27, 2021 – 7:49 pm | Comments Off on Chanukah: The Dreidel12,098 views
dreidel

The dreidel for Chanukah and the gragger (Ra’ashan) for Purim have the exact same structure, have you ever noticed? Both have a round bulb from which a stem protrudes. The difference is that the dreidel’s stem protrudes from the top of the dreidel and points upward, the gragger’s stem protrudes …

Sukkot: Repentance Again?

September 17, 2021 – 12:03 am | Comments Off on Sukkot: Repentance Again?6,728 views
repentance-innerstream.ca

I sit in my study late at night after breaking the fast of Yom Kippur. As I do every year, I feel euphoric. The day was so intense, we invested so much effort, and the Divine dividends that will be paid out over the year will surely be generous. We …

Nitzavim: Tears of Joy

August 28, 2021 – 10:57 pm | Comments Off on Nitzavim: Tears of Joy2,217 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 …

Re’e: The Pivot

July 31, 2021 – 11:11 pm | Comments Off on Re’e: The Pivot943 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 Moon1,033 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 …