Earthquakes? No, they do not occur because the gods are angry. They are caused by stressed tectonic plates suddenly shifting. One great gift of science is cause and effect, which means that things don’t just happen. For every effect, there is a cause. There is no need to ascribe natural events to vengeful deities. But...
Like so many couples, my husband and I sometimes see the same things in completely different ways. For example, other than on Shabbat and holydays, my husband feels out of touch without his cell phone and blackberry within reach. I, on the other hand, dislike having my cell phone near. If I’m home, I prefer...
Around the world, Jews are in the middle of celebrating the holyday of Sukkot, known in English as Tabernacles. For one week, we move out of the house as much as possible and into Sukkot or temporary dwellings constructed exclusively for this holyday. Various specifications, such as a roof made solely of branches, mean that...
You know those days. You feel unstoppable and on top of the world, walking on air with sheer delight. A real king of the hill. Keep your balance! And then the days when you’re dejected and all alone and your eyes fill with the hot tears of defeat and you feel that life isn’t worth...
Can you be a good person without being God-fearing? The immediate and obvious answer seems to be yes. There are self-described irreligious individuals, agnostics and atheists who live upstanding lives filled with hard work, strong marriages, volunteer activities and other honorable undertakings. But recently, I began to wonder about the validity of my question. What...
Since we finally got the CD mentioned in this post finished, I’ve linked to it so you can read more about it. I gather from news reports that a pastor in California has called on his married congregants to commit to seven straight days of sex. As an attention getting device, both for his members...
Speech by Rabbi Daniel Lapin Friday night, August 27th, 2010 Glenn Beck’s Divine Destiny Event, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Washington DC ————————————————————————————- Thank you David Barton and thank you Glenn Beck….yes, thank you so very much for making it possible for me to be here with you all tonight while still observing my...
What do you think of when you remember Charlotte’s Web? Perhaps images of pigs and spiders come to mind, or maybe you picture yourself huddled under a blanket reading on the couch. That book might have been the first time you recognized a relationship between the food on your plate and the animal world. (As...
Have you ever had the experience of blithely saying something and then, as the words left your lips, instantly regretting them and wishing you could take them back? Unless you’ve been obeying a vow of silence for years, I know the answer. We’ve all had intense remorse over something that would have been better unsaid....
Don’t you love synchronicity? God places different things in our path at the same time so that we can view them together. The recent headline, “Workplace Injuries Down” coincided with my reading a fascinating book. In the early 1970’s Jan Wong was a nineteen year old Canadian student of Chinese descent. Like so many of...
