judaism

Judaism is a way of life that challenges it's adherents to use their freewill to carry out Abraham's mission of bettering the world. Judaism insists that a person live very much in this world, and the Torah texts and the mass of rabbinic literature reflects this. So much of what they talk about is how to simply be a mentsch, take responsibility for yourself, and be kind and compassionate to others.

God gave Abraham trials that asked him to shake himself free of the world around him and take radical action that would set him apart as the ivri - the revolutionary - and at the same time make real, lasting change to the corrupt world around him. Picking up and leaving his childhood home and family estate, rejecting the pagan approaches to understanding and using nature, Abraham was building himself up to become a true leader of people, and the founder of Judaism.

Millions of words have been written about the application of the ancient wisdom of the Torah and the Talmud to modern challenges. The dynamism of Jewish scholarship and the proverbial stubbornness of the Jewish people have made Judaism remain as relevant today as it ever was.

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Latest blogosphere posts tagged “judaism”

• Jews May Get Frosty Feelings as Obama White House Cuts Hanukkah Party Guest List in Half

  
  NewsBusters.org - Exposing Liberal Media Bias — Authority: 832
  With the holiday season approaching, the latest liberal fashion in media bias by omission will be papering over any hard feelings about White House holiday celebrations. Already (as Patrick Gavin of Politico has pointed out), the Jerusalem Post reported that the guest list of the annual White House Hanukkah party is ...
  2 hours ago

• There can be no banning of sharia law | Bananabrain

  
  Comment is free | guardian.co.uk — Authority: 161
  Besides being unworkable, a ban on sharia law would pose a serious challenge to all our civil liberties I do not support the aims of the " One Law for All " campaign and todays rally. Nor do I support that which they oppose, namely the use of sharia as a vehicle by Islamist groups to assist their nefarious goals. ...
  9 hours ago

• Documented VIDEO PROOF of Israeli Lies, Treachery and Murder

  
  Goon Squad — Authority: 425
  That Light unto the World version of self-defense, Judge for yourselves "Operation Cast Lead?" More like "Operation Eat Lead." UN: "Israel knew they were bombing a school" John Ging, the head of the UN relief and works agency in Gaza, has said Israel were given the GPS and knew the building ...
  12 hours ago

• Who is paying for that little trip you took to Iraq/Israel/Washington?

  
  — Authority:
  Following this week’s controversy over Sydney Morning Herald journalist Peter Hartcher taking a free trip to Israel and returning to Australia with wonderful tales of Zionist adventure, Foreign Policy’s Stephen Walt argues that transparency in think-tanks and public figures is key. Where is the money coming ...
  13 hours ago

• How to push as many Palestinians out of their own country as possible

  
  — Authority:
  Ethnic cleansing, allegedly supported by far too many Israelis : Transfer of Arabs from the Palestinian Authority to actual Arab countries was the most popular solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, according to a poll this week by Israel National News. Of the more than 6,400 people surveyed, 53.2 said ‘Transfer ...
  13 hours ago

• Fight Over Jewish Symbol Heads to Trial

  
  NYT > Theater — Authority: 916
  A case will go forward involving a family’s fight to affix a small box containing Hebrew religious texts, known as a mezuzah, to the doorposts of their condominium units.
  19 hours ago

• Kotel everybody?

  
  MetaFilter — Authority: 746
  A womens prayer group was expelled from the area of Jerusalems Western Wall on Wednesday for wearing tallitot and reading from the Torah , in violation of an Israeli Supreme Court ruling that restricts these activities to men in the area directly in front of the wall. Meanwhile, in the U.S., the majority of ...
  21 hours ago

• Modesty In Blogging

  
  Your Moral Leader — Authority: 146
  Rabbi Gil Student writes : Regarding tzeni’us , however, I find the question perceptive. Tzeni’us is not just about how much skin a woman is showing. As R. Jack Abramowitz writes, in his recently published The Tzniyus Book (pp. 19-20): Literally, tzniyus means "hidden." The meaning is that certain ...
  23 hours ago

• This weeks portion: a Torah journey with Rebecca

  
  Velveteen Rabbi — Authority: 564
  This fall Im taking a class called "Torah Journeys" with Rabbi Shefa Gold. Reb Shefa is teaching us her method of intensely personal exegesis, as appears in her excellent collection of parshaniyut, Torah Journeys . Weve each been asked to engage in a "Torah journey" of our own around a Torah text of our choosing; I ...
  1 day ago

• Transgender day of what?

  
  The Thang Blog — Authority: 129
  Today is the Transgender Day of Remembrance , a day “set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice.” There’s an expectation that The Trans Community is supposed to come together and mourn our dead, celebrate our living. (Indeed, I’ll be performing tomorrow night at ...
  1 day ago

• Supporting Israeli Arabs, Good Idea or Dangerous Precedent?

  
  Windows & Doors — Authority: 464
  Jewish support for initiatives addressing co-existence among all citizens of the State of Israel, both Jewish and Arab, has gone mainstream. Is this a good thing or not? Depends on whom you ask. Last weeks unanimous endorsement of the cause by American Jewrys largest religious movement, at the biennial conference ...
  1 day ago

• Steve King Can Only See Part Of America

  
  That's My Congress — Authority: 505
  Congressman Steve King can only see a small portion of what the United States of America has been and is becoming. No matter what our individual ethnicities and cultural traditions are, we all need to have a truly representative government made up of people who are able and willing to work with the diversity of ...
  1 day ago

• The Roars of Crowds

  
  Cross-Currents — Authority: 462
  I’ve never experienced a pogrom or been pursued by an angry mob, thank G-d. And yet my genes seem to hold some residue – bequeathed in some Lamarckian way by less fortunate forebears – that discomforts me when a large crowd of people loudly expresses itself. Like the one outside our offices on a recent Friday. ...
  1 day ago

• Dying Man’s Daily Journal – Personal Prayer request please

  
  Dying mans daily journal — Authority: 128
  Yesterday was a very special day for me. About a month ago right here on the blog I got a message from a high school buddy of mine. Chuck Paxton and I were good friends through high school. Sadly, as is so often the case right after high school our individual lives took us in different directions and we lost contact. ...
  1 day ago

• Psalm 20: a psalm for childbirth

  
  Velveteen Rabbi — Authority: 564
  As I mentioned a while back , my final project for my psalms tutorial is an exploration of two psalms which have classically been associated with childbirth, one of which is psalm 20, which begins "May God answer you in your day of trouble." In one interpretation,  Midrash Tehillim draws an analogy between the ...
  1 day ago

• The rabbis moral muddle | Madeleine Bunting

  
  Comment is free | guardian.co.uk — Authority: 161
  Boiling the complex issue of population decline down to selfishness, as the chief rabbi has done, is absurd The question: Are we too selfish to survive? The chief rabbis comments were the most muddled of any recent religious leader. His speech managed to combine so many problematic statements and assumptions ...
  1 day ago

• Intel offers Sabbath peace-deal to appease protesters

  
  Interfaith — Authority: 127
  In an attempt to appease the wrath of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem, Intel has pledged to only employ non-Jewish workers on the Sabbath at its offices in the city. The proposal was made following a protest by nearly 2,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews outside Intel’s Jerusalem plant on Saturday. Demonstrators broke into ...
  1 day ago

• The pro-Israel lobby and antisemitism | Antony Lerman

  
  Comment is free | guardian.co.uk — Authority: 161
  C4s Dispatches has been branded antisemitic, but surely Britains Jewish community can cope with reasoned scrutiny? The serious charges levelled by critics at the Dispatches documentary investigating the UK pro-Israel lobby amount to accusations of gross irresponsibility, or worse. But who is being irresponsible here? ...
  1 day ago

• Free Acess to Encyclopaedia Judaica

  
  The Theological Ramblings of an Anglican Ordinand — Authority: 409
  The award winning Encyclopedia Judaica is available online for freePosted in Bible, Book Review, Books, second temple judaism
  1 day ago

• Sorry for wanting an Arab player

  
  — Authority:
  No, Israel isn’t a racist society at all : Beitar Jerusalem captain Aviram Baruchyan met Thursday evening with fans belonging to the “La Familia” organization and apologized for saying that he would like to see an Arab play in the football team. The fans told him they were hurt by the remark he made about ...
  1 day ago

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