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 Tags

Articles tagged with: free choice

Balak: Weed is Now Legal

June 24, 2018 – 12:52 am | Comments Off on Balak: Weed is Now Legal3,110 views
weed-innerstream.ca

Canada has recently legalised weed, so we must ask, what is the Jewish perspective on weed?
Marijuana, or weed as it is known in the vernacular, is a derivative of the cannabis plant. On the surface, plants are kosher. The only thing to avoid when eating plants, are bugs, and by …

Rosh Hashanah: Pickled Meat and Free Choice

September 16, 2017 – 10:41 pm | Comments Off on Rosh Hashanah: Pickled Meat and Free Choice2,587 views
free-choice-innerstream.ca

Surface Attraction
A man once went to the butcher and saw two bins, one filled with fresh meat, the other, with pickled meat. The pickled meat smelled good and drew his attention. He bought five pounds of the it and returned the next day with terrible stomach pains. Why didn’t you …

Passover: Chad Gadya

April 5, 2017 – 12:49 pm | Comments Off on Passover: Chad Gadya3,818 views
chad-gadya-innerstream.ca

A Conflagration
Although the Chad Gadya is not part of the Chabad tradition, the melody holds universal appeal. In fact, one of my earliest Passover memories is learning this classic. My Bubbie’s Haggadah had beautiful illustrations and I spent many hours pouring over the pictures of the kid, cat, dog, stick …

Vaera: Determination

December 22, 2013 – 1:12 am | Comments Off on Vaera: Determination4,093 views
determination - innerstream

Hard Heart
When Moses and Aaron first came to Pharaoh they made a reasonable request, let my people go for three days so they could worship G-d in the desert. Pharaoh denied this request and dismissed the miracles that Aaron performed to prove the authenticity of their message. At this point …

Chayei Sarah: Free Choice

October 20, 2013 – 2:24 am | Comments Off on Chayei Sarah: Free Choice21,802 views
free choice - innerstream

Just A Number
The expression, age is just a number, is true, but not everyone likes to have their number called. The Torah tells us the age of the Matriarch Sarah, prompting our rabbis to ask, why. If a gentleman never asks and a lady never tells, as the aphorism goes, …

Tazria Mitzorah: A Sign of Love

April 7, 2013 – 3:40 pm | Comments Off on Tazria Mitzorah: A Sign of Love5,581 views
father's happiness- innerstream

The Walls Know
We love closed doors for the cover they provide; what we do behind them others can’t know and what they don’t know can’t hurt them. We can be irascible, immoral and impossible in private, yet parade in public as amicable, wise and generous and no one will be …

Vaera: Where is G-d?

January 8, 2013 – 3:32 am | Comments Off on Vaera: Where is G-d?3,089 views
where is g-d? - innerstream

G-d is You
As a child I recall walking with my father one morning while he was telling my older brothers that nothing exists outside of G-d. In fact, he said, G-d is in everything. He is the flower, the street, the car, He is even you. This captured my childish …

Tazria Metzora: Do We Really Have Free Choice?

April 22, 2012 – 3:36 am | Comments Off on Tazria Metzora: Do We Really Have Free Choice?5,960 views
Constitution-we-the-people

When We Are Free
Those among us raised in free societies, whose earliest impressions were molded by values of democracy, cherish the principle of free choice. We believe deeply that the freedom to choose is integral to the human condition and we intuitively reject notions of pre-determinsm.
We cannot stomach the idea …