Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland
Difficult times come cyclically in our lives. One of such experiences is the death of a loved one. We feel powerless then, because we cannot bring anyone back to life. The closer this person was to us, the closer that persons’ “spiritual presence” later in our life – the more our consciousness is preoccupied with this person. This state of mind prompts us to reflect in various ways: we analyze the objective[…]
The idea that man was created in the image of God is a fundamental claim about human nature and binds all mankind together as a single race. The very idea is at the same time the foundation of universalist ethics, the only ethics that has a chance to be true, because it is the antithesis of ‘tribal ethics’, that suggest that people from different groups, national or religious, should be treated differently[…]
Kedoshim tihiyu – You shall be holy (Leviticus 19:2) – thus begins parashat Kedoshim, the second of the two Torah portions for this week. What does it mean to be holy in Judaism? It means ve’yareta me’Elochecha – to fear God (Leviticus 19:14). The fear of God in Judaism is not something irrational. It means to have a sensitive and scrupulous heart and to be prudent in your actions, in order to do[…]
The quality of our life, in all its dimensions – material, social, psychological and spiritual, is dependent on our morality, our culture and how we relate to each other on a daily basis. We can make our life heaven and we can make it hell – it is in our hands. As the famous verses of the Book of Deuteronomy state:[…]
