THE ESSENTIAL PASSOVER TOPIC
Rabbi Michael Whitman

This Friday night Jews all over the world gather in homes to celebrate Passover, the beginning of our journey from slavery to freedom and our birth as a People. The central feature of this celebration is to tell our story. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks points out Moses instructs the Jewish People to formulate the story they will tell their children about this event, and Moses gives this instruction before the Exodus occurs. In other words, the preparation for the event itself, is to formulate how we …

THE POPE OFFERS A DEATH-DEFYING CHALLENEGE TO YOUNG PEOPLE
Father John Walsh

Young people have abandoned the Church. On any weekend (Saturday or Sunday) a visit to a local parish it takes only a visual overview of the small congregations to realize that young women and young men are scarce. The reasons young people are leaving the church are manifold. Many youth say the Church is dead. I would venture that one reason is they know through experience and they feel that they are not being listened to. They are looking for …

WHEN TRAGEDY STRIKES … AT PRAYER
Father John Walsh

Too often it is only when tragedy strikes that people speak out and change occurs. I recall an incident when a teen-age girl, who had exhibited so much promise as a ballet dancer, was crossing over from one side of the train tracks to the other. Just then an unsuspected train going in the opposite direction to where she was looking, took her life. People had known for years that the crossing was a tragedy waiting to happen. It was too late to …

FAITH LEADERS COMMEMORATE TRAGEDY AT QUEBEC MOSQUE
Rabbi Michaele Whitman
January 28, 2018.:

Are We Our Brother’s Keeper?
When the Bible records the first murder, we read:
Cain rose up against his brother, Abel, and killed him.
God said to Cain: Where is your brother?
And Cain answered: I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?
And God said: What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to me.
Our rabbis point out the original Hebrew does not read “dam achichah” singular, your brother’s blood; but “d’mei achichah” plural, your brother’s bloods.
Because a murder is never a single …

IDENTITY PRECEDES OUR MISSION AS IT DID FOR DR. KING
Father John Walsh

There are many people who know how to be Christian by avoiding sin and what to do by following the prescribed prayers and rituals but few have the courage to ask why. Martin Luther King Jr. knew why he was a Christian. He was inspired by his faith to speak openly and freely about the plight of those who were denied their civil rights. He relied on Isaiah in his “I Have A Dream” speech: I have a dream …