Tag Archives: jewish culture

God’s Luxury Hotel

God’s Luxury Hotel
I ran across this story on gratitude in several sources. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter was a 19th century Jewish scholar involved in translating the talmud. Once, when Rav Yisroel was in Paris he was in a very fancy hotel. He ordered only a cup of water. When it was time to go, the waiter brought the…
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Obstacles in our Journey

Obstacles in our Journey
In the Bible, a river is often a barrier or obstacle. The Israelites faced two separate bodies of water. What did that represent? Yes, it was a physical barrier, but what did that mean for their spiritual journey? The Red Sea was a barrier from slavery to freedom. Egypt lay behind them, and in fact,…
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East/West

East/West
Westerners and Easterners communicate very differently from each other. In the West we like to use a lot of words – we explain and describe. Easterners tend to communicate by way of picture and story. Our Bible is primarily an Eastern text and it is in this context that God chose to send His message.…
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Wilderness

Wilderness
The terms wilderness and desert are often used interchangeably in the Bible. Those of us in the west often picture wilderness as lush forest but our mind’s eye needs to go to the desert when we are reading the Bible. God often interacts with His people in the desert wilderness. In the desert, there are…
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