Jewish tradition is rife with details of sibling rivalries, family feuds and enormous disappointments with children and descendants. The Bible itself provides us with sufficient examples of these sad but all too common characteristics of human life. Lot, Yishmael and Eisav are the prime examples of this problem in the lives of our forefathers. The story of Yosef and his conflict with his brothers...
After the death of Sarah, Avraham remarries to a woman named Keturah. Rashi, following Midrash, states that she was Hagar, the woman whom he had married earlier at the behest of Sarah herself and who became the mother of Yishmael. The Torah records for us that Avraham fathered further children with Ketura and that these children left the house of Avraham to found families and clans of their own...
The Talmud and in fact the Tanach itself is full of debates and disputes. In fact, the given and accepted method of Talmudic study is to debate and discuss each point thoroughly and logically. Throughout Jewish history, great issues have been debated and argued. These issues, moral, spiritual, national and practical were all brought into sharp focus and relevance by the presence of these ongoing...
Our father Avraham pleads for the forgiveness and survival of Sodom. He strikes the best
Douglas Southall Freeman was recognized as one of the premier American historians of the twentieth century. He was a confidant of presidents, a noted author and Pulitzer Prize winner and a man of great charm and character. During the Cold War he was the thorn in the side of the Leftist academicians who insisted that the inexorable tide of history was on the side of the Soviet Union and that the...
Our father Avraham and our mother Sarah are the paradigm Jews. Their lives and the events that occurred to them are symbolic of the story of the Jewish people throughout the ages. This is certainly the meaning of the well known phrase of the rabbis that
Henry Ford, in many respects the founder of modern manufacturing processes a century ago, was also a very great hater and a classic anti-Semite. He also posed himself as the champion of the "plain people" against the intellectual snobbery of academia and academics. In this role he described history as "bunk." In an interview that Henry Ford gave to the Chicago Tribune in 1916 he stated: "History...
In this week
The month of Tishrei with all of its dramatic and joyful holidays is behind us. More than one-third of that month is filled with holy days: Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Succot/Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah. If one factors in the days of preparation and effort inherent in the proper observance of these holidays then it is no exaggeration to say that practically the whole month of Tishrei is a...
The rabbis of the Talmud have taught us that all new beginnings are fraught with difficulties. This week
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