Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. Please contact us in case of abuse. In case of abuse,
Most of Western society perceives itself as going through a ‘crisis of religion’. This crisis is defined by precipitous drops in membership and attendance at houses of worship. In 2010, 61% of Americans belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, today that number is 47%, first time in history that this stat has fallen below 50%. On the flip side, the number of Americans who profess no religion has risen from 8% to 21% over the same decade. Therefore, we can clearly state that America is becoming less pious, right? Wrong! Today, 78% of Americans believe in God, and 55% claim to pray every day. The ‘crisis’ isn’t one of religious faith; it’s a crisis of religious institut
Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. Please contact us in case of abuse. In case of abuse,
This week’s Torah reading is chock full of blessings. All of the sons of Ya’akov Avinu and two of his grandsons are blessed and become the SHIVTEI KAH, Tribes of God. So, it’s a great opportunity to discuss the idea of blessings. To get to that analysis I must first unpack at least part of these blessings. These BRACHOT are a combination of best wishes and destiny. Since we can’t do them all, I’m going to focus on the BRACHA of Yosef. It’s the longest and most personal of the BRACHOT. After all, Ya’akov did love him the most, but it’s not the most powerful of the BRACHOT, which went to Yehuda, our once and future monarch.