Articles by Yaakov Paley

And this little boy? When he awakens, what will he see? Undoubtedly he will marvel at neat rows of colored squiggles and wonder what they are doing in his crib. He is far too young to realize what he is looking at...

Is Nature a sleek bus that makes random stops? Or is the itinerary determined by our input and effort? Perhaps the bus driver ignores individuals but looks for a convenient crowd to smile upon?

It's not too often that an angel drops by for a cup of tea and a chat, or that one discovers a heavenly being hovering impatiently in the waiting room...

They seem just as human as the others. They bleed when cut, and the blood is always red. A gentile could eat cholent and a Jew could own a baseball team. Are they one species or two?

A nation held its breath as, week after week, the enemy sent steel ravens to claw at their skies, pieces of airplane hurtling earthwards together with the bombs. They had no choice but to win, and they did...

As they disappear beneath the waves, we wonder whether our efforts are futile. Ten bags, twenty bags, thirty bags... It hasn't worked so far, so what's the point of continuing?

The cause is the mountain itself: it simply and stubbornly gets in the way. The wind hits it with force, and must force its way around or over. As it does so, it carries little pieces of the mountain with it

The water recedes, causing his toes to sink into the sand; it rushes back to cover his legs up to his knees. Small waves, big waves. The further the wave recedes, and the longer before it breaks, the further up it will charge up the beach...

"Taking a human life is an absolute no-no. How could Abraham have been willing to kill his own son in cold blood? So what if G-d commanded him--that's no excuse!"

It contains no oil or honey, nuts or fruit, not even a coating of egg and poppy seeds... How did this "bread of poverty" wrangle center stage in the festival celebrating our acquisition of the greatest of wealths--our freedom?

For what is man/ But a frame/ Of living wood/ With a bark of flesh/ Whose spent years/ Are carefully recorded/ In the rings of his soul/ To be counted and measured/ When his tree is felled--?

To touch some of heaven's radiance, then curve gracefully back towards the earth in a glorious ray of colors that are manmade reflections of G-d's truth and hope for mankind