Post The 39 Acts Forbidden on the Sabbath After the instructions for the Tabernacle are given and right before the actual construction of the Tabernacle begins, Moses gives an incongruous message commanding the Jews to rest on Shabbat… Read More
Post The High Holidays: Everyone’s Holiday When I think about the High Holidays, I picture synagogues full of Jews, the men wrapped in snow-white prayer shawls swaying silently, the women praying fervently. They are Jewish holidays… Read More
Post The Sabbath, a Day of Waste? Psalm 29 (The Israel Bible, pp. 1503-1504) is special in a deep way. Even though it is only 11 verses, it contains the name of God 18 times. 18 is… Read More
Post The True Day of Rest The fourth of the Ten Commandments instructs the Children of Israel to observe Shabbat on the seventh day because God Himself created the world in six days and rested on… Read More
Post Three Things We Must Renew Daily We have all made New Year’s resolutions: to eat healthier, to get to sleep earlier, to make up with an old friend, etc. That is because the new year is… Read More
Post “Thunders Over Mighty Waters” According to Rabbi Matityahu Glazerson, the word for ‘water,’ mayim (מים), provides an interesting example of the unique way in which the Hebrew word expresses the essence of the object… Read More
Post Two Ways to Encounter God Here on Earth A few years ago, I was in Tel Aviv visiting a friend. After a pleasant afternoon, I decided to have a coffee at a sidewalk cafe before heading home. I… Read More
Post What Is God’s Hebrew Name? Unsure about whether the enslaved Israelites will follow him to rebel against Pharaoh and trust in the God of Israel, Moses asks God: ‘When they ask me what is Your… Read More