If you could take a pill that would make you happy all the time, would you take it? An Israeli neuroscientist, Moran Cerf, has discovered how to trigger different areas of the brain to elicit emotions without any external stimulus. In an article in Haaretz he said, “The purpose of the research is to...
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And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manashe; For God, said he, has made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house. And the name of the second he called Ephraim; For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. ...Genesis chapter 41:51-52 Is it such...
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Adapted from a talk I gave at the opening of the Human Rights Beit Midrash at Hebrew University. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, to you will I give it, and...
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No, this is not a post about whether you can believe in both Judaism and evolution. The answer to that one is obvious -- of course, there are many Jews who believe in evolution. The first Chief Rabbi of Palestine, Abraham Isaac Kook, said that evolution accords perfectly with the ideas of Kabbalah, that...
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Why were Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed (as we read in this week’s Torah reading)? The Torah calls them wicked and sinners, but other than wanting to have their way with Lot’s visitors, the Torah doesn’t tell us much else. The rabbis offer several different explanations, including, corruption and thievery. But in some ways one...
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Seven years ago (!) I wrote the below d’var Torah on people who are opposed to the “two-state solution.” It is really and truly depressing how little progress we have made in the last seven years. Sigh. Hence, this deserves reposting, since no doubt no one remembers it from seven years ago. Reb Barry...
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