Sh'lach-Lecha
Sh’lach-Lecha: Israel/Palestine Buddy Cop Edition
Perhaps this midrash holds out a hope that any of us can be transformed to meet the needs of the moment. And perhaps we can find a way to change the course of today’s story so it does not have to end in wholesale destruction.
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Sh’lach-Lecha: One Small Step, One Giant Leap
...if we want the soil of our land to live up to our hopes for it, we must hold to our faith — whether that is in God, in the land itself, or, in our case, the conviction of the cause(s) we are working for — and believe that we will reap the fruits of our labor.
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Quieting our Amygdalas
Of course, we are scared when faced with giants, or when we are fed terrifying misinformation. It is what we do with our fears and anxiety that is a key to Jewish spirituality.
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Rejecting Militant Literalism, Reclaiming Jewish Imagination
To put our trust in the gods of militarism and brute strength, to conflate the presence of God with armed combat, is to succumb to idolatry, to assimilate into a culture that conflates might and morality, violence and virtue.
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A New Way of Experiencing Ancient Texts
My Torah for this week urges each of us to walk into the unknown. Let our written lines, mixed in with the words of others--ancient and contemporary--make a path, embodied.
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Saying Yes When Others Say No (Parshat Sh’lach-Lecha)
Rabbi Faith Joy Dantowitz writes about Parshat Sh'lach-Lecha.
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For the People of the Oy, the Cup is Half Full
Rabbi Cynthia Kravitz writes about Parshat Sh'lach-Lecha.
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Id, Superego, and Israel
Parshat Sh’lach seems, at first glance, to have two totally disconnected halves. Part one is the story of the twelve scouts whom Moses sent to Canaan and their sin that led God to decree 40 years of desert wandering. Part two is a series of laws about sacrifices, tithing, repentance, and wearing tzitzit. But a...
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How can a grasshopper change the world?
In the struggle for human rights, it is hard not to feel like a tiny grasshopper scratching at the massive walls of injustice we face all around us. There are so many people who are suffering, so many systems that are deeply broken; there is so much work to do. In parshat Shlach Lecha, God...
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