This is a Q and A style format with Rabbi Artson. In this podcast, the Rabbi talks about his views on topics such as a variety of questions posed by the ZSRS community. From rabbis and partisan politics to the challenges of speaking about God.
This is a Q and A style format with Rabbi Artson. In this podcast, the Rabbi talks about his views on topics such as a variety of questions posed by the ZSRS community. From rabbis and partisan politics to the challenges of speaking about God.
Rabbi Artson addresses the ZSRS Community on the first day of classes in this week's podcast.
Social pressure to conform is a steady and soul-deadening force. With relentless enticements, cultures seek ways to impose similarity of worldview, of behavior, even of thought upon their members. Even contemporary society, with its laudable commitment to individuality, imposes subtle mandates through the media, through the movies, through advertisements and in countless other ways. Small wonder, then, that the truly free soul is rare.
Rabbi Brad Artson and Rabbi David Wolpe have a in-depth conversation about Religion and Politics in this podcast.
In his magisterial presentation of Judaism, The Guide of the Perplexed, Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (known as Maimonides to the Western world) explains that the purpose of the Torah is twofold: the welfare of the soul and the welfare of the body. Rambam points out that the welfare of the soul is more noble and greater, but that it comes only after the welfare of the body. And he defines the welfare of the body both in terms of the individual (maintaining health), but also in terms of the body politic (fashioning a society of justice and compassion).
Walk into any synagogue and you'll see them in the sanctuary. Generally, they're above the Aron (the Ark), or on a wall. Walk into many churches and you'll be greeted by the same sight. The two tablets of the Ten Commandments have become the eloquent symbols of religion, good and decency throughout the western world.
What are you willing to die for? In the course of our daily routine, there are certain focal points -- actions, comments or individuals -- which can ignite our passion like nothing else. While these things may not receive a great deal of conscious thought or even our waking effort, their significance lies in how important they are to our sense of identity, of worth, or of meaning.
When I was a congregational Rabbi, I received many calls from people seeking personal counseling to handle problems with their families or friends. Time after time, someone would tell me of their difficulty in relating to someone else, explaining to me how that other person didn't really like them, never understood them, never gave them the benefit of the doubt.
In the realm of biology and chemistry, interactions lead to further interactions, as the energy of one unit creates the response of the next, which in turn launches yet another process. Everything is connected, and everything is part of a series of responses and influences. What goes around comes around.