One of the tendencies of modern historiography is to debunk past heroes. Revisionist historians have blackened the name of some of the great people of the past by dwelling extensively on their human foibles and personal difficulties. Not only does this attitude reinforce the false idea that there are no real heroes in the world, it indirectly absolves all of us from ever attempting to be a hero...
The recent infestation of Egypt, Jordan and parts of Israel by swarms of locusts serves to remind us of our biblical heritage. In our modern-day, technologically advanced world, crop duster airplanes loaded with pesticides spray the advancing horde of locusts and usually are quite successful in exterminating them before they destroy all of the crops in their path. In biblical days, there was no...
A very talented young relative of mine is a fine artist. I mean that she is really good. Every family has at least one talented member in its midst and she is ours. She recently painted a magnificent painting and it was sold for a goodly amount of money to a very fine person and art connoisseur. The only rub in the deal was that the painting was unframed and the purchaser asked for it to be...
Continuing good health is one of the major blessings of life. I think that even more than length of life and increased longevity, a healthy life is what most human beings desire. Unfortunately, the lot of humans is such that sickness, minor and major in nature, is almost unavoidable at some stage in one's existence. Midrash teaches us that there was a time in the world when no one became ill and...
Everyone is in favor of justice in our legal system and in our social and societal lives. Yet justice is an ephemeral and difficult to define concept. Many times what passes for justice is really the personal subjective opinion of a judge or a jury on a complicated and confusing issue. The Torah demands that judges in a Jewish society strive to "judge the people with righteous correct judgment."...
The current Jewish world has a fascination regarding graves, especially the graves of righteous people and holy humans. There are regular tours to Eastern Europe and other locations that are almost exclusively devoted to visiting the gravesites of the leading rabbinic figures of past centuries. This is especially true in the Chasidic world where massive tours to visit Uman, for example, to pray...
Throughout the long exile of the Jewish people, a few Jews continued to live in the land of Eretz Yisrael under very difficult circumstances. There were waves of substantial Jewish immigration to the country in the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, but nevertheless the Jewish community in Eretz Yisrael remained in the main small, weak and impoverished. The Ottoman Turks who ruled the country...
One of the banes of urban living is the insularity and surliness that it breeds among humans. In small towns, people usually say "good morning," "thank you" and "excuse me" to one another on a constant and regular basis. My experience when living in large cities, both here in Israel and in the United States, is that such pleasantries are often omitted and even when offered remain unanswered. I...
For the tens of thousands of full time yeshiva students, both Israelis and young men from the Diaspora, who are now studying Torah and Talmud here in Israel, this period of time marks the beginning of the "winter zman." The "winter zman" extends from the beginning of the month of Mar Cheshvan until the beginning of the month of Nissan. Because this year of 5765 is a leap year containing two Adar...
There is a custom amongst Jews that in the period after the holiday season of Tishrei, and after Pesach as well, that is popularly called "behab." This word is the Hebrew acronym for the days of the week - bet, hay, bet - Monday, Thursday, Monday. On the first series of the days of Monday, Thursday, Monday falling in that order in the months of Cheshvan (after Succot) and Iyar (after Pesach),...
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