יש אגדה/אנקדוטה מפורסמת שהסתובבה בעולם הישיבות ובתנועת המוסר על בחור ישיבה צעיר שעזב את עולם הישיבה ואת סביבתו כדי לחפש את מזלו במחוזות רחוקים. כשעזב את הישיבה, הוא היה מזוקן ולבוש בצניעות בהתאם למסורתו... READ MORE →
While walking on a darkened street here in Jerusalem near my home last week while having an animated conversation with my wife over the frustration of the world’s treatment of Israel, the Jews and Judaism, I neglected to look where I was going and tripped over a curb and fell heavily on my arm. Eventually I was diagnosed as having a crack or chip in one of the bones of the elbow. Originally, I... READ MORE →
בשעה שהתהלכתי ברחוב חשוך ליד ביתי בירושלים בשבוע שעבר כשאני משוחח עם אשתי על התסכול מהיחס של העולם לישראל, ליהודים וליהדות, לא שמתי לב לאן אני הולך, מעדתי על המדרכה ונפלתי בכבדות על היד. אחרי בדיקות, התברר שיש לי סדק... READ MORE →
A few days ago my computer screen showed me the dreaded words “your keyboard batteries are low.” Well even I know how to replace batteries or so I thought. For then I discovered that one of the batteries was completely wedged and stuck in the small tube that governs the keyboard. I could not remove it no matter how hard I tried or whatever instruments of destruction I used. So I took the... READ MORE →
This year on the Jewish calendar, 5774, is a leap year. In terms of the Jewish calendar this means that it is a thirteen-month year instead of the usual twelve-month year. This anomaly is accomplished by repeating the month of Adar twice. In the secular calendar every fourth year is also called a leap year. That leap year is identified by having the month of February be twenty-nine days long... READ MORE →
There was a long and critical article that appeared this past week in one of the Hebrew newspapers here in Israel concerning the role of rabbis in society. There is no question that the role of most rabbis in the United States is far different than what is currently the case in Israeli society. In the United States the rabbi is a far more personal figure. He is a teacher, speaker and... READ MORE →
In an article that appeared two months ago in the Jewish Review of Books, Daniel Gordis wrote about the sorry state of the Conservative movement in the current American Jewish scene. The Pew Report documented, with a great body of anecdotal evidence, the demise of this once most numerous and powerful movement. Gordis himself is the scion of a distinguished rabbinical family that exercised... READ MORE →
At the end of last month I attended an all day conference here in Jerusalem commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of Rabbi Isaac Herzog’s seminal Ph.D. thesis that he submitted to the University of London. The thesis was a scientific, historical and halachic review of the source of the ancient dye used to produce techelet colored wool for the priestly garments and for the tzitzit/fringes... READ MORE →
The current spate of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority under the watchful eye and undue pressure of the United States, though shrouded in silence and mystery, apparently is not really going anywhere soon. As is usual in the negotiation pattern of the past twenty years, Israel gives tangible assets away to the Palestinians – land, weapons, financial aid and the release... READ MORE →
Advancing years certainly have their effect. Physically it becomes more difficult to do the things that once one was able to easily accomplish. Light bulbs now refuse to be changed, items on the floor resist efforts to be picked up, print becomes smaller and less distinct and difficult senior moments of memory become routine. King Solomon in Kohelet lists the infirmities of advancing age in... READ MORE →
