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September 9, 2026 / 27 Elul 5786
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A woman prays at the Western Wall (vered shutzman, Shutterstock.com)
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Shalom -, Please enjoy today's Daily Inspiration from Israel.
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In her wretchedness, she prayed to GOD, weeping all the while.
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וְהִיא מָרַת נָפֶשׁ וַתִּתְפַּלֵּל עַל־יְהֹוָה וּבָכֹה תִבְכֶּה
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v'-HEE MA-rat NA-fesh, va-tit-pa-LAYL al a-do-NAI u-va-KHO tiv-KEH
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Standing Alone Before the King
By Shira Schechter
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On the first morning of Rosh Hashanah, the reading from the Prophets is not a coronation, not a battlefield, not a vision of the end of days. It is the story of a woman who could not have children.
Her name was Hannah. Her husband Elkanah had a second wife, Peninnah, who had children and made sure Hannah never forgot it. Once a year the household traveled up to the sanctuary at Shiloh to offer sacrifices, and every year Peninnah used the occasion to torment her. Hannah would weep and refuse to eat. Then everyone would go home, and the next year the same thing would happen again.
On one of those visits Hannah got up from the family meal and went to pray on her own. She prayed silently, her lips moving without sound, which was strange enough that Eli the priest assumed she was drunk and told her to sober up.
That is the reading the Sages chose for the Day of Judgment, and the Sages explain why: Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah were all remembered on Rosh Hashanah (Rosh Hashanah 10b). All three barren women conceived on this day.
Hannah's prayer was answered on Rosh Hashanah, and the son she was begging for was Samuel, who would grow up to anoint Israel's first two kings.
But look closely at the story and something does not add up. Hannah had been going up to Shiloh year after year. She was not a woman who had neglected to pray. She had been praying for a very long time.
So why this year? What was different about this particular prayer, in this particular moment, that finally moved heaven?
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The Billion-Dollar Band-Aid
There is a new billion-dollar industry in North America, and nobody should be celebrating its growth. According to recently released data from the Jewish Federations of North America, Jewish institutions are now spending more than $1 billion every year simply to keep Jews safe.
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An “Honor Killing” for the Democratic Party
As an increasing number of candidates associated with Islamist ideologies are winning Democratic primaries, party leaders must ask themselves: How much extremism can a political party absorb before it no longer recognizes itself?
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Israel Just Made Turkish Erdogan’s Worst Nightmare Come True
Erdogan wanted to dominate the Eastern Mediterranean. But a new Israel-Greece alliance, US sanctions on Turkish banks, and growing cracks inside Iran may be changing the balance of power.
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From Chaos to Redemption: Contemporary Teachings from the Book of Judges
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Moral confusion. Political chaos. A society that has lost its way. Sound familiar? From Chaos to Redemption applies the eternal lessons of the Book of Judges to the burning issues of our time — and the guidance it offers is as urgent today as it was three thousand years ago. The answers are in the Bible. They always have been.
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Use code INSPIRATION20 to get 20% off!
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Blessings from the land of Israel,
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