tomirvine Fear can be a cruel thing. When it overflows its boundaries, it drains our life force. It changes our perception. Under its influence, every little setback seems huge. Until the world itself seems fundamentally terrible. Eventually, we look for the evil intent behind anything good. We become cynical. Finally, it seems pointless to work towards … Read more
Giving affects not only the one you give to, but also you, the giver. Therefore, it’s not only important how much you give, but how often. Each act of giving uplifts and purifies you a little more. ~ R’ Tzvi Freeman ___ On Succos, the highest light, which is the light of emuna, shines. When … Read more
I praise no superstition, I praise the living fountains of enlarging belief. What is growth, completion, development? You began with that question, I apply it to the history of our people. I say that the effect of our separateness will not be completed and have its highest transformation unless our race takes on again the … Read more
G-d told Cain “If you improve, you will be forgiven” Genesis 4:7. Cain’s true failure was that he didn’t learn from G-d’s positive response to Abel, who had offered up the choicest of his animals. Had Cain presented a second offering, this time from the choicest of his crop, G-d would have forgiven him and … Read more
The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression. (Proverbs 19:11) * * * Rabbi Menachem Meiri relates the following story: There was once a righteous king who had but one major fault; he was angered very easily. To overcome this tendency he wrote three lines … Read more
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. (Proverbs 1:7) The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant. (Psalms 25:14) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth … Read more
“The Jew of today holds in Jesus an inspired ideal of matchless beauty. While he lacks the element of stern justice expressed so forcibly in the law and in the Old Testament characters, the firmness of self-assertion so necessary to the full development of manhood, all those social qualities which build up home and society, … Read more
Rev. Hugh Robert Orr: Judaism vs. Christianity– A Unitarian View “And so there came to be what was know to be a ‘Christianity as a system’ — Christianity as a system is not and never was the religion of Jesus. Christianity as a system is an agglomeration of absurd theological dogma infiltrated with all kinds … Read more
Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. (Job 38:3) Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. (Jeremiah 1:17) – Tom Irvine
There are differing opinions as to who was the first Jew. * * * Abraham, 1813-1638 BCE, is considered by many as the first Jew. A native of Mesopotamia, he rejected the idolatrous ways of his ancestors and contemporaries; he was the first person to use his own cognitive abilities to discover and recognize the … Read more
