WEAVING THE FABRIC OF LIFE IN ISRAEL
Father John Walsh

In our North American culture there is a divide between the secular and the religious, to the point of privatizing religion to the family and places of worship. CJA sponsored a group of thirty-seven people under the leadership of Jeff Segal and Steve Gross to be on a Mission to Israel. Our greatest discovery was that the tension between the secular threads and the religious threads weave the fabric of life in Israel. At the Knesset Tzipi Livni, opposition leader of the …

JERUSALEM — A SPECIAL MOMENT
Rabbi Michael Whitman

The city of Jerusalem is holy to all three major religions, and to countless others. At the same time, Jerusalem is saturated with political controversy. Without minimizing the importance of those discussions, Jerusalem is also saturated with holiness and beauty – from the dramatic and sublime, to the mundane everyday life that takes place there. I think the politics would take on a very different direction if we, all of us, would first focus on what makes it special and holy to us as …

LIVING “FAITH” IN ACTION
Imam Dr. Zijad Delic

Canadian Muslims are bracing to prepare for Ramadan 2018. It raises many questions: Do we really understand the purpose of the rituals in our places of worship? Are we living life “on auto-pilot”? What hinders our faith to be active? A remedy?
We can go through life “on auto-pilot” without ever thinking about the consequences that ensue and how they affect our relationship to faith and belief. Yet, we set personal goals in life, we have jobs, we study different academic and professional fields, we …

YOUNG WOMEN AND YOUNG MEN SPEAK TO AUTHORITY — AS SELDOM BEFORE, IN THE CHURCH
Father John Walsh

In the aftermath of the killing of seventeen students in Parkland, Florida, young women and young men have spoken to authority. One student said, I don’t want to go to school and the first thing on my mind is to look for the closest exit. The words of the leaders of the March for Life throughout the United States were without rancor, but were courageous. The want an end to the folly of the …

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 …