Judaism doesn’t view doing acts of kindness as voluntary, rather it instructs 14 mandatory acts of kindness. Here is the list:
Aid the poor
Feed the hungry
Extend loans
Redeem captives
Excel in hospitality
Visit the unwell
Gladden brides and grooms
Comfort the mourner
Honor the deceased
Return lost objects
Offer roadside assistance
Educate the youth
Teach Torah
Encourage spiritual growth
To find out more details about each of the mandatory acts of kindness, watch the following video:
Judaism’s 14 mandatory acts of kindness – Jewish Learning Institute
This video was produced for Lesson 6 of Well-Connected, a course by the Rosh Chodesh Society. You can view their full video library at: https://www.torahcafe.com.
This week, at the end of May 2022, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres formally requesting that the world body refer to his nation as Türkiye instead of Turkey. The change went into effect immediately.
The name change will be required from several international bodies as part of a rebranding campaign launched by the Turkish president late last year.
“Türkiye is the best representation and expression of the Turkish people’s culture, civilization, and values,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in December.
While the anglicized form, Turkey, is widely used, even within the country, most Turks already know their country as Türkiye.
State broadcaster TRT was quick to make the change as soon as it was announced last year, explaining that among the reasons for the image rebrand was the association with the bird traditionally associated with Christmas, New Year or Thanksgiving.
One issue that was also brought to attention was the Cambridge English Dictionary’s definition of one of the meanings of the word turkey as “something that fails badly” or “a stupid or silly person”.
As part of the re-branding, “Made in Türkiye” will feature on all exported products, and in January a tourism campaign was launched with the catch-phrase “Hello Türkiye”.
‘Hello Turkiye’ campaign to raise global awareness
In this video from Ascension Present’s YouTube channel, Fr. Mike Schmitz explains how God purifies us, what types of purification are there and what part do we play in this process. I invite you to check it out and let me know your opinions about it in the comment section.
The Orthodox Churches that follow the Julian calendar (the Orthodox churches of Constantinople, Albania, Alexandria, Antioch, Bulgaria, Japan, Cyprus, Greece, America, and Romania) celebrate Easter (Pascha) today, on April 24th, 2022.
If you are interested in finding out more about the holiday, here are some articles from the previous years: 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Easter (Pascha) is a celebration of the resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, The Son of God, The Second Person of The Holy Trinity.
He is risen!
I wish you a joyous Easter celebration and a blessed year ahead!
And I leave you with this video on how Romanians celebrate Easter:
R&R Partners Bucharest – Orthodox Easter in Romania
While browsing YouTube, I came across some videos about my native country, Romania. I think they are pretty cool and I would like to share a few of them in a blog post. I invite you to check them out and learn some cool facts about Romania.
Eurasia – The History Of Romania
Epimetheus – The History Of Romania In 10 Minutes
POGKPP – History of Romania every year 780 – 2020
Masaman – Are Romanians the Last Real Descendants of the Roman Empire in the Balkans?
Knowledgia – Why did Romania switch sides in WW2?
And one more, to clarify why Italy is not named Romania:
Name Explain – Why Isn’t Italy Named Romania After The Romans?
I invite you to watch this video from Ascension Presents’ YouTube channel. In it, Fr. Mark Toups, an experienced spiritual director, leads readers inward to invite the Lord to heal those areas where they need it most.
You are invited to imagine what it would be like if you could see yourself the way Jesus sees you. Even in the midst of our sins, struggles, and failures, Jesus looks upon us with love as His Beloved. All He asks for us is to meet His gaze and fall in love with Him in return.
Turn toward Jesus and let’s allow ourselves to be fully seen by Him no matter where we find ourselves in life. Be not afraid of standing before Jesus unhidden and allow God to clearly see and completely love you. God wants to give you more.
While the importance of Optimist Day is undeniable, its history is slightly confusing. There are various events that could be considered the starting point of Optimist Day.
According to Optimist.org, the day was started in 2013, when delegates in Cincinnati passed a resolution to adopt the first Thursday of every February as “Optimist Day“, after a resolution introduced by Sylvain Levesque.
All I want to be on Optimist Day 2022 is an optimist
Another site consider 2017 as the year of the holiday’s foundation, and yet another considers it to have began in 2019, in Croatia, as a festival created by the Somersby Cider company, together with a well-planned campaign that was supported by thousands of people.
Regardless of its origins, Optimist Day is a great occasion to celebrate positivity and to embrace a positive outlook on life. Optimism is usually regarded as a state of mind and can be developed by creating new ways of thinking.
This year’s Optimist Day could be a perfect time to get started retraining the brain to think positively, to see the bright side of any situation, and see the glass as half full instead of half empty.
Optimist Day is also a day in which people are encouraged to partake in small acts of kindness towards their relatives, friends, neighbors, colleagues and especially towards strangers.
To find out more cool facts about optimism, learn how to observe Optimist Day as well as ways in which we can retrain our brains to think more positively, check out the following websites:
The series of mini-articles in which I present YouTube channels that are related to the Christian faith and that have impacted me in a positive ways continues. Today’s article is about the channel Called to More.
The channel’s about page mentions that its aim is to form and encourage a generation of Catholics to #liveforheaven. “Called to More is a not-for-profit media apostolate based in Ireland. We create videos, articles, and a podcast for Catholics to deepen their relationship with Christ and His church.”
Tackling a wide variety of interesting topics related to the Catholic beliefs and Christianity in general, the Called to More YouTube channel can be of great help to everyone who is looking to learn a few things about improving their walk with God.
It’s that time of the year when we celebrate the birth of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that time of the year when, if God wills it, we spend quality time with family and/or friends, that time of the year when we try our best to show kindness and love to our brethren. It is Christmas.
We live troubled times, but we should not lose hope. I hope you had a decent or at least manageable year, and I wish you a Merry Christmas! May God bless us, everyone!
In December of 1948, the United nations General Assembly put forth 30 articles that cover everything from rights to education, freedom, health, and more. Since this event, these articles have served to help protect civilians in time of war or dictatorship, to help bring POW’s home, and to ensure that people everywhere are allowed to live in liberty and safety.
