3+ hour, 45+ min ago  (777+ words) Jewish academic and Hebrew scholar Irene Lancaster shares some insights into the Jewish background of the book of Numbers. "In the desert" (Ba Midbar) is the name given to the 4th Book of the Bible, known as "Numbers". Numbers 1: 1 goes: "And…...

14+ hour, 35+ min ago  (1159+ words) Such simple questions as "Are you a Christian? Have you ever thought about it?" save lives and souls and reverberate through time and eternity. Robert Collins, M. D. , was riding high. After medical school, internship, and residency, he was doing clinical research…...

2+ hour, 16+ min ago  (180+ words) In the Spirit: Shavuot: Revisiting Sinai and renewing tradition The Daily News of Newburyport Congregation Ahavas Achim on Washington Street in Newburyport. Next week, the Jewish community will celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. Almost no one in the Jewish world…...

2+ hour, 45+ min ago  (965+ words) Vicki Garlock was making her way through her morning read of Religion News Service when she came across a story about a man who earned a Guinness World Records title by visiting 76 places of worship in one month. She thought,…...

3+ hour, 28+ min ago  (420+ words) Two Israeli Defence Force (IDF) soldiers have received brief prison sentences after putting a cigarette into the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in occupied Lebanon. The incident is not the first in which IDF soldiers have been…...

5+ hour, 24+ min ago  (1095+ words) Rabbi Shlomo Aviner is head of Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalms 118: 24). Since the establishment of the State, day and night we rejoice. And even though…...

5+ hour, 56+ min ago  (543+ words) Yshai Amichai is a father of six, dedicated to the Shabbat and Torah values. He wrote a Constitution for Israel based on the Torah, and is currently turning psalms and portions of the Torah into songs. On May 4, President Trump…...

5+ hour, 1+ min ago  (822+ words) As Israel celebrates Yom Yerushalayim, marking 59 years since the reunification of Jerusalem in the Six Day War, this week's special Haftorah for Machar Chodesh (Tomorrow is the New Moon") offers a remarkably timely message about longing, loyalty and the enduring…...

5+ hour, 45+ min ago  (311+ words) The previous Gerrer Rebbe was once asked: Is there a title for the Shabbat before Shavuot? After all, the Shabbat before Pesach is called Shabbat Ha Gadol, and the Shabbat before Yom Kippur is called Shabbat Shuva. He responded that…...

5+ hour, 25+ min ago  (387+ words) But the Torah is rarely interested in bureaucracy for its own sake. The census is not merely about numbers. It is about identity. The question beneath the counting is not simply, How many men are there? It is, Who are…...