There has been some controversy about the women only swimming hours that a pool in New York has offered to accommodate the large orthodox Jewish community for the past 30 years.

When everyone is so busy it is hard to make time to invite someone for a meal or any other activity. Also it can be a bit intimidating to allow someone else into your home in the name of hospitality but Abraham gave us an example of it.

One of the biggest concerns one could face is defining God’s will for your life. I have heard a lot of stories about people who studied this certain thing for years and then never really liked what they learned and found out something else was their calling.

Although it is well known that there are some very mixed feelings about Messianic Jews, those who serve in the Israeli Defense Forces don’t seem to have faced as much negativity from their peers as one might expect.

I was on Facebook one day and I saw a quote. I don’t remember the name of the person who posted it or exactly what was said word for word but basically it went like this, stop taking constructive criticism from people who haven’t constructed anything.

Figs are very significate in Jewish culture. The fig is one of the seven varieties of foods mentioned in the Tenach as being a blessing to Israel. “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill; a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey; a land where you may eat food without stint, where you will lack nothing.” Deuteronomy 8:7-9. Figs are also one of the core agricultural products produced in Israel. (“Fig”, n.d)

A study from Pew Research showed that millennials seem less likely to believe in God than previous generations. But even if some do believe in God people also seem to be less likely to attend religious services (Lipka, Michael, 2015). Millennials are also less likely to pray, with about a third of them "seldom/never" praying. This goes hand-in-hand with the fact that the majority said religion is somewhat or "not too/not at all" important in their lives. (Leins, Casey 2015)

I remember reading the news some time ago (I think it was the Daily Mail but it doesn’t really matter) and there was an article which featured someone who was born with a genetic condition. One of the comments to the article was the claim that God does not make mistakes. I believe it was well meaning, and people often say that when things do not go as while as expected.