ב"ה
Tishah B'Av 5768 - August 10, 2008
Seasons
Stones with a Soul
The Western Wall is a place of national nostalgia, a focal point for our collective pining over a lost glory. It is the symbol of our hopes for the future. But it’s also a symbol of what still exists...
The Western Wall is a place of national nostalgia, a focal point for our collective pining over a lost glory. It is the symbol of our hopes for the future. But it’s also a symbol of what still exists...
Subliminal Advertising
I don’t know if the communists or Madison Avenue ever perfected the art of subliminal suggestion, but I am sure that G‑d has the requisite skills to pull it off . . .
I don’t know if the communists or Madison Avenue ever perfected the art of subliminal suggestion, but I am sure that G‑d has the requisite skills to pull it off . . .
Kamtza and Bar Kamtza
It happened this way: A certain man had a friend named Kamtza and an enemy called Bar Kamtza. He once made a party and said to his servant, “Go and bring Kamtza” . . .
It happened this way: A certain man had a friend named Kamtza and an enemy called Bar Kamtza. He once made a party and said to his servant, “Go and bring Kamtza” . . .
About Tishah B'Av
The saddest day on the Jewish calendar is the Ninth of Av, “Tisha B’Av.” It is the date when both our Holy Temples were destroyed, and exile, persecution and spiritual blackness began.
The saddest day on the Jewish calendar is the Ninth of Av, “Tisha B’Av.” It is the date when both our Holy Temples were destroyed, and exile, persecution and spiritual blackness began.
Living
Mind Your Business!
"Live and let live!" "It's not your place to mix in!" Are these tolerant voices of acceptance or words cloaking our apathy in our age of impersonalization?
"Live and let live!" "It's not your place to mix in!" Are these tolerant voices of acceptance or words cloaking our apathy in our age of impersonalization?
Facing Grief
Any loss, especially one involving the loss of love, independence, structure or identity, causes a temporary loss of balance—physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Any loss, especially one involving the loss of love, independence, structure or identity, causes a temporary loss of balance—physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Why We Yell
There's lots of "legitimate reasons" for why we yell at our kids. But are the consequences too high a price to pay for gaining of a little cooperation?
There's lots of "legitimate reasons" for why we yell at our kids. But are the consequences too high a price to pay for gaining of a little cooperation?
Caught in the Middle
My wife and my mother don't get along. Both of them complain to me about the other one. I'm caught in the middle and I feel like I am balancing on a high wire. What can I do?
My wife and my mother don't get along. Both of them complain to me about the other one. I'm caught in the middle and I feel like I am balancing on a high wire. What can I do?
The Jewish Woman
Peering From Behind the Lattice
I surf between CNN, Fox, and the Jerusalem Post scanning photos of our soldiers: rough beards, weary postures. I squint, searching for Akiva's face among them...
I surf between CNN, Fox, and the Jerusalem Post scanning photos of our soldiers: rough beards, weary postures. I squint, searching for Akiva's face among them...
Tanks 'n Tractors
The internet's down! And with it, the phone. It's a silence about the texture of a goose-down cushion....
The internet's down! And with it, the phone. It's a silence about the texture of a goose-down cushion....
Pilgrimage
Every prayer is a conversation with the Creator. To lose this awareness is to transform the dialogue into a monologue...
Every prayer is a conversation with the Creator. To lose this awareness is to transform the dialogue into a monologue...
Parshah
The Parshah in a Nutshell
For thirty-seven days Moses talks: recalling, reminding, rebuking, warning, promising; about the revelation at Sinai and their journeys through the desert, about spies and wars and victories and the Land, and what it’s like to serve as a leader of G‑d’s chosen people.
For thirty-seven days Moses talks: recalling, reminding, rebuking, warning, promising; about the revelation at Sinai and their journeys through the desert, about spies and wars and victories and the Land, and what it’s like to serve as a leader of G‑d’s chosen people.
Words
Why do we talk so much? Witness the endless self-explaining we engage in, the perpetual conversation we feel obliged to "make", the quadrillions of words unleashed each day in every imaginable media...
Why do we talk so much? Witness the endless self-explaining we engage in, the perpetual conversation we feel obliged to "make", the quadrillions of words unleashed each day in every imaginable media...
Know Where You Are Coming From
Moving forward is essential, but in order to do so we must understand where we are coming from
Moving forward is essential, but in order to do so we must understand where we are coming from
The True Translation
Translation is a sensitive and possibly dangerous process. Our sages commented that the day the Torah was translated into Greek “was as difficult for the Jewish people as the day when the Golden Calf was made.”
Translation is a sensitive and possibly dangerous process. Our sages commented that the day the Torah was translated into Greek “was as difficult for the Jewish people as the day when the Golden Calf was made.”
Torah in Chinese
The Talmud teaches that G‑d uttered the Ten Commandments in all 70 languages, though only the Hebrew version was heard. What was the point of speaking in languages that no one understood, let alone heard?
The Talmud teaches that G‑d uttered the Ten Commandments in all 70 languages, though only the Hebrew version was heard. What was the point of speaking in languages that no one understood, let alone heard?
Behold! He stands behind our wall, looking from the windows, peering through the crevices
— Song of Songs 2:9
Print Magazine
We Jews are a diverse people. We speak many languages. We live in every part of the world. We have different cultures, foods, political views.
But when a Jew’s mind is absorbed within Torah, it is the same Torah within which another Jew is absorbed. And another Jew. And yet another.
We discuss and debate and share and...
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