Challenges, difficulties and even tragedies in personal and national life are, to a very great extent, unavoidable and in many cases not even preventable. Because of this, the test in life becomes not only how did one deal with the problem but rather how did one recover after the problem proved so devastating. The key to recovery from sad occurrences is therefore resilience – the ability to... READ MORE →
Giving charity, helping the needy and acting in a compassionate way towards those who need our help, is one of the pillars of Judaism and Jewish life. We are trained from our earliest days to share our wealth with those who, for various reasons, find themselves helplessly in need. The Talmud places great stress on giving charity and doing so in a regularly, compassionately and in an honorable... READ MORE →
I am planning to travel this summer for 10 days to Russia on a tour sponsored by my Destiny Foundation. Long experience in traveling has taught me to always purchase adequate travel insurance before embarking on such a trip. We are prone to all sorts of mishaps that are completely unforeseen in regular daily life, in our homes and on the street. Traveling and being in a foreign country only... READ MORE →
There are many discomforting and even unpleasant experiences that await those of us who travel by airplane in our current world. Air travel was once considered a luxury experience, apart from one’s final destination. Well, the combination of terrorism, enhanced security measures, crowded planes, narrow seats, somewhat surly service and other sundry annoyances have turned air travel into a chore... READ MORE →
As all of us here in Israel can attest to, the intense heat of the past weeks has clearly announced to us that summer has arrived. The Mediterranean type of climate that Israel enjoys is balanced by its proximity to the desert areas that make up a large part of the landmass of the Middle East. We here in Jerusalem are spared the intense humidity and discomfort that visits the coastal areas of... READ MORE →
There are times in life that one is able to see the beginning and end of an idea or movement in its entirety. When I was a child I remember vividly that the first day of May was called May Day and was the day of celebration of the proletariat Left. Fiery speeches, and loud bands, tens of thousands of marchers waving red flags all dominated the media and street of the day. The mood of the day... READ MORE →
A very dear friend of mine travels extensively several times a year between his family in Europe and his permanent home in Israel. He often tells me that when he is there he wishes to be here and when he was here he often wishes to be there. I am somewhat in the same situation, so I readily can identify with that sort of emotion. But I check myself by the realization that this is a true... READ MORE →
One of the great impossibilities of the human condition is to be blessed with old age and many years and yet somehow to remain an essentially young and energetic person in mind, body and spirit. This is not only true in the case of individual people, but it applies to even nations and empires. Age takes its toll in a universal and indiscriminate fashion. Just look at Europe today. It is old... READ MORE →
Due to the progressive weakening of my eyesight I have been forced to search for and acquire all types of aids to help me in my reading and studying. A few months ago, I was able to purchase an excellent device that is manufactured in Holland that enables me to read and study with comparative ease even though I cannot see or read the text with my naked eye. This machine is essentially a... READ MORE →
One of the more uncanny peculiarities in human history has been that whenever a sinister unexplained event in the world occurs, the Jews are immediately sought out as the scapegoats and the cause of the event. Unfortunately there is a very long and bitter history to this phenomenon. It is so deeply ingrained in parts of the non-Jewish world that even in our time, despite a long history and in the... READ MORE →
