The Rabbi and I

The time has come to decide. Courting voters has reach a fever pitch. The lies and deceptions of the candidates have reached a new high or is it a new low!

Every country on the planet has an agreed upon immigration policy. Let’s put aside political posturing from both the Democrats and the Republicans and create an agreed upon immigration policy. What is happening now is destructive not constructive.

Yom Kippur is about you and not about the people you have hurt. It is the time to do a personal inventory and correct your actions. Then and only then do you ask for forgiveness.

Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of a 10 day period of conducting a personal inventory. Have I let chance control my life or have I made thoughtful choices. Gambling has a place, but not when I have the opportunity to choose what to do.

Football gives us many great Jewish lessons and this year is no exception! With the new football season comes new plays. If we are going to survive the coming year we will need new plays. The old ones just don’t work any more.

Father Kelley & Rabbi Block share their experiences of combining a Jewish naming ceremony with a Roman Catholic baptism. Baptism and Jewish naming are not mutually exclusive.

What should I be afraid of this week? Every day the media has us in a frenzy. Don’t you remember acid rain, the hole in the ozone, no more birds, etc. it is never too late for us to panic!

Social Media is anything but! What was a great platform for sharing has become antisocial.

Judaism and Roman Catholicism are more in common than they are different. A wedding with a Catholic Priest and a Rabbi combine the spiritual and traditional elements of both faiths.

Whether in our personal lives, the military, or medicine just because it can be done doesn’t mean we should do it! Too much waste and pain are the result of doing something unnecessary just because we can do it.

Art takes feelings, emotions, and perceptions and makes them visible in the world we live in. Religion takes our feelings, emotions, and perceptions about the universe and expresses them in our actions.

You can never hide from your religion! Let’s not fool ourselves if our religion is valuable and helpful why would we not take it with us. If you need a vacation from your religion it is time to find another religion.

Rabbi Abraham Heschel: “One thing I know with certainty is the God exists and it is not me!” God as described in the Scriptures is just that, an individuals description of that which cannot be described. It is time to stop treating one description as the only description.

Public schools have failed to educate our children. Private schools are beyond the reach of most families. That just leaves home schooling.

The real battle is between Hume and Hobbes. Are people innately good or bad? Your view will determine your actions.

You can never be too careful. Evil crouches at the door. There are many ways to ward off bad luck and evil.

Judge people as good or bad by their actions, not by what they say!

Active Minds is a National organization to help and support college students adjust to college life. Information for Active MindsActiveminds.orgActive Minds Chapter list: https://www.activeminds.org/programs/chapter-network/#statesActive Minds at Maryland email: [email protected]

Special Guest Nate Blanken tells Rabbi Ken Block about a new tool for mental well being that's targeted towards college students. information for the AppFlourish Labs/håp podcast: Flourishlabs.netProjecthap.comReferral code for håp: RRMb

Fear of Success and fear of failure can immobilize us if we let it. It is human to be afraid, does the fear incapacitate you. Let’s focus on the results of our fear and not focus on the fear itself.

In this episode Rabbi Kushi, the unorthodox orthodox Rabbi, and Rabbi Block discuss what makes art Jewish. Can someone who is not Jewish create a work of art that we label as Jewish?

There is a place in Judaism for everyone. It’s about the little engine that should. Harford County Maryland Chabad Rebbe Kushi Schusterman joins in the discussion of having a place for all Jews.

We often try to run from our religion, but it goes with us. You can’t run away from yourself! Why do you think you can run from your religious practice?

The Talmud tells us when we are required to lie. Come and learn the teachings about when lying is forbidden and when it is required.

No news might be good news, but 24/7 of the same news is making us unstable and paranoid. See what watching the same news is doing to us.

No good has ever come from the state requiring all citizens to be the same religion. History has taught us that state run religion has a bad outcome for every.

Are there any any shortcuts to reach God? No, God is available directly to all. Any aids you need are okay as long as they are not a substitute for direct contact.

Many religions ask us to suspend intelligence and just accept what we are told. What’s going on! Judaism has a simple teaching “if you need to suspend intelligence then run, don’t walk the other way”. Faith should never require you to suspend intelligence.

Judaism Is a religion and a culture. Like a train it has many cars so that there is room on the train for every Jew regardless of level of observance or cultural identity. We keep chugging along because there are no police on the train throwing people off!

Being a Red Sox fan has taught me to live with perplexing. We are in a constant state of being perplexed. Let’s embrace being perplexed and stop embracing solutions that make life more difficult.

You can use the Bible to prove anything you want to prove and that doesn’t mean that what you are saying corresponds to reality. Let me know what you want to prove and I will give you the Biblical quotes you need!

Listen to when the “law of the pursuer” applies and you are required to take out the pursuer. You didn’t know that there situations when you would be required to take a life? Listen to when.

Let’s pattern our laws after the religions of all Americans and not just the religions of a select view. If want religions to be the basis of our laws it can be done.

No one should be denied the right to be joined together. Visit my web site Rabbionthego.com

When you coach you are the coach to all the members of the team and just those whose religion you share. If you choose to pray, show respect for every member of your team and include their beliefs.

Different religions have different views concerning statutes, pictures, icons, etc. and they all agree that we should not worship anything not worthy of worship. If the object does not help direct us to The One then we are idol worshippers!

School is a place of learning so let’s teach about the validity of the prayers over the over 4000 religions on our planet. Unlike some religions that claim that God only hears their prayers, God hears all prayers.

Do something, make something, build something, don’t leave the bricks in the box. You need to act to make your vision a reality.

Stop choosing to be unhappy, unless of course you want to be unhappy! Accepting the changes around us as they inevitably change leads to happiness.

People are so passionate about issues that don’t affect them and ignore things that actually do. Then we use our religion to impose views on those who have a different religion. I ask my Christian friends to reread the Gospel of St. Mathew 6:5-15. Your religious beliefs are yours, allow me to have mine!

Plastic has been a life changer. Now it is out of control. Not is the time to balance the benefits of plastics with the burden it creates.

Our society ignores dealing with human emotions. Whether it is anger or happiness we do not teach healthy ways to deal with my emotions. We all experience the breadth of emotions, we need to help each other learn not to choose destructive behaviors.

We have all seen our attention span’s shrinking. Attention is a learned behavior. Now is the time to learn to increase our attention span.

Baruch HaShem, thank God that Pope Francis understands and supports the true meaning of the sacraments. At a time when people distort religion for political gain it is good to know that the Churches authority on earth is standing up to religious corruption.

Saying that something is forbidden does not work the way we think it does. Stopping antisocial and dangerous behavior requires more than just a ban.

Social media is the primal stew for conspiracy theories.

Helping families resolve their objections to an interfaith wedding. Marrying outside one’s faith naturally creates anxiety among family members. Listen to ways to reduce anxiety and accept the choices of the wedding couple.

In Numbers 12:1-16 God makes it clear that He had no objection to Moses marrying a black non Hebrew woman, Zipporah. Moses sister, Miriam, criticizes her brother for marrying the Cushite daughter of a Midianite priest and is struck with Leprosy.

Human beings crave novelty. Is the new and exciting programmed into us? Or is it just that advertising makes us think that we crave new experiences and new stuff?

The Talmud teaches that there are times when you are required to lie. Wait a minute, isn’t telling the truth a commandment? Come and listen to when you must lie!