effects of sin

What is that very elusive quality we call shalom? For it means different things to different people. The ancient Hebrew concept of peace, is rooted in the word “shalom,” meant wholeness, completeness, soundness, health, safety and prosperity, carrying with it the implication of permanence.

What lessons can we learn from the Holocaust? Is guilt good enough? Human nature, history, the capacity for evil, and the ability to fight it. Read on here.

No matter what a person wears, to the Almighty, haute couture is irrelevant.

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…

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…

Move over Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and Friedrich Nietzsche…

Make room for the new kids on the block—Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens! These “New Atheists” proclaim God’s non-existence with great fervor. But they’re not saying anything new…

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?

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.

We will camp here,” our scoutmaster told us, “by the lake.” Eagerly we set up camp by Lake Goshen in Virginia. I was 15 then and was with other experienced scouts. We should have known the still waters of Lake Goshen would be a perfect breeding ground for mosquitos. Throughout the night they attacked us…

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…

The Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidism, who lived from 1700 to 1760, taught: If a Zaddik (righteous one) wishes to raise a man up from the depths of sin, he must descend to his level. To what can it be compared? To a man trying to lift up someone who has fallen into a…