Cover image: “She will find what is lost,”©Brian T. Kershisnik, 2012. Used with permission. This life is a continuum from pre-mortal existence that transitions into the life here on earth, then life after this. I want to share some poignant accounts people have shared with me concerning departed friends and
Last summer I participated in the McGrath Institute Summer Liturgy Series, “Will They Come Back After COVID?: Disaffiliation, Affiliation, and the Liturgy.” At the same time, I was teaching a course with Dr. Bronwen McShea called Reform, Renewal, and the Role of the Lay Faithful. One of the most important
The only time I tried to hurt my brother—who was older, stronger and didn’t try to hurt me back because it would have been too easy—was in high school when he was living with our dad and I was living with our mom and he didn’t show up for a
For the rabbis, there is seemingly no higher value than learning. But is all learning encouraged? The famous mishnah on today’s page that opens the second chapter of Chagigah warns against the study of certain subjects: One may not study (dorshin) forbidden sexual relations with three nor the act of
The Paradox of Freedom The dialectical ills we last discussed cannot be cured overnight; and in the end only Christ can cure them, who alone grounds and fulfills the analogy of freedom, showing us how divine and human freedom go together, calling humanity to follow him in voluntary obedience. In
All Hallows Evening Prayer is a service of worship in the evening for all pilgrims on the journey to the heavenly city. According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, a disciple is a person who believes in the ideas of a leader and tries to live according to those ideas. Jesus
This article is adapted from the detailed verse-by-verse commentary on Genesis 21–23 available at the Interpreter Foundation website. Readers may also consult the commentary for the Book of Moses and Genesis at Bible Central or within the ScripturePlus app. See also “Abraham’s Hebron: Then and Now, part 5: Mamre,”. Among
On today’s daf, the question is: Which came first? But the subject here is not the chicken or the egg. It is: heaven or earth? Beit Shammaisays: The heavens were created first and afterward the earth was created, as it is stated: “In the beginning God created the heaven and