bible
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Mixing Apples and oranges (or pomegranates). Readers may think I have been doing just that in these reflections on Advent and Chanukkah. Jews and Christians have distinct faiths and teachings. I firmly believe in ecumenical dialogue. Dialogue, to reach an understanding, not a theological compromise of beliefs. As Trevor Harford, a Christian Bible and Rabbinic
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Tomorrow morning, I will be giving the D’var Torah (a sermon) on Genesis chapters 25:19-28:9. I am honored to have been asked. Below is the text. Derasha: Tol’dot, 22 November 2025 The words of the Torah are like fragments of colored glass pieced together to create a stained-glass window of lives lived and events through
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Perhaps I have been asking the wrong question. Ben Azzi used to say: “Despise no man and consider nothing impossible for there is no man who does not have his hour and there is nothing that does not have its place” (Aboth IV.3). Despise no person regardless of socio-economic status, gender, gender orientation, race, creed,
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PART THREE: THE POSSIBILITY OF ANSWERS THE SYNAGOGUE, THE CHURCH, AND THE MOSQUE I am a proponent of ecumenical dialogue. In the past, I participated in meetings, assisted others in preparing their conferences talks, and taught in various denominational settings. Today, in a time of deep concerns, rabbis, pastors, priests, and imams need to engage
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“A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:9). What are my obligations in these times of the emergence of a dictatorship, political discord, and economic chaos? I am merely one voice in a chorus of voices. There are moments when I think writing these blogs is a waste of time.
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This morning, I awoke feeling as if I were skating on a razor’s edge to the Rolling Stone’s “Sympathy for the Devil.” I distinctly recall one of the last conversations with my father. This took place on an April afternoon shortly before he died in the line of duty with the Oakland, New Jersey, First
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Purim is a holiday of joy and remembrance. There is a carnival spirit to the holiday celebration of the triumph of Mordecai and Esther in thwarting King Ahasuerus’s advisor Haman’s scheme to exterminate all the Jews in the Persian empire. In brief, Esther’s revelation to the king of her Jewish identity, and Haman’s intent to
Charles van Heck's Woodhull Journal 