effects of sin
In a way, enlightenment has been a goal or achievement of both the Eastern and Western worldviews for quite some time. In Buddhism, starting with its founder in the fifth century B.C.E., individual enlightenment is a follower’s highest goal. “Buddha” means “awakened” or “enlightened one.” For the Buddhist, this means freeing oneself from the cycle […]
I have learned a lot about God from the Holocaust. This may sound unsettling, but I’ve come to feel that much can be learned in the crucible of that catastrophe of 40 years ago. The Founder of Jews for Jesus, Moishe Rosen, says…
Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) is a Jewish holy day that is supposed to deal with our shortcomings and get us right with God and each other. Kippur is literally “covering.” Which is interesting b/c apparently, the first thing people wanted to do about sin was cover up. Adam and Eve tried to design […]
In Judaism we take on the issue of sin once a year at Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. We break away from the busyness of life and take a hard look at our transgressions and mistakes which we’ve committed throughout the year. We fast and go to synagogue and repent of our sins and […]
This month Israel is celebrating 63 years as a modern state. Yom HaAtzma’ut” (Israel’s national Independence Day) falls on May 9. With so much unrest in the Middle East and all the uprisings various countries have experienced over the last several months, one can only hope and pray for Israel to be joined by emerging […]
This Yom Kippur, for the relief of sin, YESHUA (JESUS) is indicated!” Yeshua—Jesus—is God’s remedy for the affliction of sin. The mitzvah (commandment) of afflicting one’s own soul can be helpful, but there is something even better. Isaiah the prophet says about the Messiah: “He was afflicted for our sins, he was bruised for our […]
When I was a little boy, terrorism had a real name and a real face: Joey,* the neighborhood tough guy.” He would pick on anyone regardless of size or age, and to my six-year-old frame, Joey loomed larger than life. So it came as a real surprise to everyone—and most of all to me—that one […]
When someone’s home is robbed, the victims often say they feel as though their house will never be the same again, as if the intruder has left a permanent scar upon a place once considered safe. Many of us felt that same sense of violation when our security and stability were violently stolen on September […]
If the creation story is true, then should God and the Bible hold power in our lives?
One of my favorite college assignments came in a Children’s Literature class at San Francisco State University, when my professor asked us to read 100 assorted story and picture books. I spent several delightful Saturday afternoons in the public library, enmeshed in the mischievous mishaps of Curious George and fearless little Miss Madeline. Those were […]
How today’s re-definition of tolerance enables us to avoid important truths. Is tolerance acceptable when truth is on the line?
The story of a friend of the friend of God.
A biblical view of peace and how to attain it.
The Universe Is Broken—Who On Earth Can Fix It?, 48pp; Rosen, Moishe, (Purple Pomegranate: San Francisco), c. 1991. Purchase this booklet online. This booklet is an attempt to grapple with some of the problems of everyday life, beginning with some hypothetical annoyances: Have you ever stayed home from work because a delivery man was to […]
Steve was a good accountant, but it was hard to sit in front of a video display screen all day with nothing but numbers before his eyes. One day, when he was particularly tense and squinting, Steve stood up to take a break. He walked over to the water cooler—which was almost empty—and he tilted […]
“Blessed art thou O Lord our God, King of the universe, who formest light and createst darkness, who makest peace and createst all things; Who in mercy givest light to the earth and to them that dwell thereon, and in thy goodness renewest the creation every day continually.…” (Hertz Prayer Book) If you’re over the […]
Peace! Peace! Peace! Everybody’s for it. Nobody is against it. But what is that very elusive quality we call peace? For it means different things to different people. To some, like Napoleon and Hitler, peace results from killing people—at least it means killing to attain their kind of peace. Peace is what those who follow […]
Back in the days when most New York Jews lived in tenements, they would go to the public baths. However, the children were bathed at home in a small washtub. When they grew too big for the washtub, they too went to the public baths. Rabbi Gottlieb took his eight-year-old son, Davey, to the baths […]