“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” Everyone knows the famous words that open America’s Declaration of Independence. But are these truths self-evident? There have been civilizations, such as ancient Egypt, that believed certain people, such as their rulers, were gods. This week we start again the annual cycle...
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When someone in the USA commits a “Federal offense,” and are convicted of the crime, they are sentenced according to a standard set of Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The guidelines, which are available online, are very complicated. Everything is a “points” system, where there are so many points given for the basic offence the person...
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First published on the Rabbis for Human Rights - North America web site. "And it shall come to pass, if you shall give heed diligently to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command you this day, that the Lord your God will set you...
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"You must have full and just weights and full and just measures if you are to endure long on the soil that the Lord your God is giving you." (Deut. 25.15) Dominique Strauss-Kahn is back home in France. The former head of the International Monetary Fund and one-time Jewish French Presidential hopeful has returned...
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For the last year and a half I have been struggling with a guilty conscience about what I eat. And I don’t like the feeling. It’s not that I run off somewhere for an occasional secret bacon fix, God forbid. I still follow all the rules – at least the letter of the rules...
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Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is One …Deuteronomy 6:4 These are probably the most familiar Hebrew words in the entire language. We are commanded to say these words in the morning when we get up, and we are commanded to say them when we...
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