Greeting God the Unexpected Guest

The Almighty visits Abraham at the oaks of Mamre to show us how to care for the sick among us, those who are ill in body and soul, just as he provides the example of caring for the impoverished and vulnerable.

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Russ Resnik
Abraham: Father of Faith of the Feet

Often we struggle to believe in our minds, which are subject to so many diverse influences. The key is to stop thinking that our faith should defy gravity! Try letting your faith slide down into your feet! Just start walking, one foot after the other, in the direction you best discern God’s leading.

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Russ Resnik
Lessons from Dry Ground

Parashat Noach seems increasingly sobering over the past few decades and especially this year. September and October seem to bring new catastrophic threats and concerns to the southeast portion of the USA and the Caribbean Islands.

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Russ Resnik
The Creation as a Pattern for Our Lives

The first book of the Bible, B’reisheet, lays a foundation for the rest of the Torah and the entire Bible. But beyond this literary function, we do well to recognize how this book lays a foundation for our lives as descendants of the first parents, as people born into and through families, as members of a holy people.

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Russ Resnik
Simchat Torah: Beginning Again . . . Immediately!

As if to reinforce Rosh Hashanah as the beginning of our new year, Simchat Torah concludes our reading of the Torah (Deut 33–34) by immediately launching us into reading the Torah from the beginning again. So, we begin again immediately . . . not at some indistinct time in the future, but now.

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Russ Resnik
Days of Awe and Reconciliation

During these Days of Awe, we have the opportunity to reach out to those we have offended, and even to those who have offended us, to offer an attitude of shalom that recognizes our differences while at the same time recognizing that spark of the Creator that is in each one of us.

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Russ Resnik
Crossing Over into Our Covenant

In Moses’ final discourses, he makes it clear that entering the land God has chosen, by crossing over from Moab, is equated with entering into our covenant with God. We can’t fully grasp our purpose as a people unless we understand the decisive connection between God, the people of Israel and the Land of Israel.

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Russ Resnik