A Righteous Cause

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by Rabbi Chaim Richman, Temple Mount Institute But on this past Shabbat, as we read of the Golden Calf, we also read in the haftorah, the prophetic reading that corresponds to the Torah reading, of the prophet Elijah’s great showdown with Ahab and the false prophets of the Baal (Kings I:18). Take a moment to read this entire chapter, for on this Shabbat, as Sharon’s perfidy and betrayal resounded all around us, the voice of prophecy was heard clearly, as if uttered today: ‘And it was when Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, ‘Is that you, the troubler of

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The Death of the Living Dead

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by Rabbi Chaim Richman: The Talmud teaches: “The righteous are called ‘alive,’ even in death. But the wicked are dead even while they are alive.” This unique perspective lends a new understanding to events of the past week. Yasser Arafat, the godfather of terrorism, is dead. The death announcement that was read in the chamber of the Palestinian Council proclaimed: “His pure spirit was returned to its source.”The Chairman was clinically dead for the past week. Reports of his brain-death, and speculation as to his subsequent burial, began on the eve of the Sabbath, a time when the Jewish people

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Between Destruction and Redemption

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by Rabbi Chaim Richman, Sent with Blessings of Consolation and Rebuilding: This month, the Hebrew month of Menachem Av, literally means “a consoling father.” It is a microcosm of the cycle of destruction and redemption. This past week, we observed the Fast of Tisha B’Av, (the 9th day of Av) marking 1,934 years since the destruction of the Holy Temple. Tisha B’Av is the crescendo that brings to a close Israel’s traditional three-week mourning period for the Holy Temple. We move in constant cycles, from destruction to redemption. Two days before the date of the Temple’s destruction, we held hands,

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