Jewish Religion

NEW YORK (Press Release) — The Genesis Prize Foundation, the operating entity for the Genesis Prize, announced Wednesday, April 17,  that Wayne L. Firestone has been named its President. The annual $1 million Genesis Prize will be awarded to an accomplished, internationally renowned individual from anywhere in the world who is a role model in his/her community […]

By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK — He never returned phone calls. He certainly never returned e-mails. He rarely smiled. He had very sophisticated tastes in wine and fine liquor. A seven-course gourmet dinner with a wine pairing at each course was almost an everyday occurrence for him. He had the vocabulary of a

  SAFED, Israel (Press Release)- When Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion wryly observed that “In Israel in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles,” he could not anticipate that the spirit of his words would motivate the largest single public gathering on Israel’s annual calendar, as 400,000 people jam the

By Danny Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — It’s a big world out there and it’s getting smaller all the time, thanks to the internet and free websites. I often surf the net not looking for anything in particular but always on the look-out for something that tickles my fancy and puts my waking brain into

By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — Call me old-fashioned or sexist, but I think that the entire dust up of President Obama calling California attorney general Kamala Harris the “best-looking attorney general in the country” is a tempest in a teapot. I understand the importance of de-emphasizing appearance in a world in which physical

By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — Two thousand years ago lived Rebbi Akiva – the greatest Rabbi of his generation, and one of the greatest Rabbis of all time. He amassed 24,000 talmidim (students). They flocked to bask in his greatness and learn his Torah. Rebbi Akiva’s talmidim were the pride of the generation.

 By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK — “No man is an island.” “It takes a village.” These are just some of the clichés that are used to convey the importance of social groups, of the realization that people cannot “go at it alone”. But just as it is vital that each of us learns

By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM– Aaron, the brother of Moses, received the news of the sudden and inexplicable death of his two sons – as told in last week’s Torah portion – in silence. In our days, many of those who state that silence is also the most appropriate reaction to the Holocaust – the annual

By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — Believe it or not, I watch a lot of cooking shows. (No, I don’t cook much, but I do enjoy eating!) One of the most common ingredients chefs use is “kosher salt.” I never fail to be amused when they use it to season pork! Salt is kosher

By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb  NEW YORK — We all applaud when an old man runs in the marathon. We expect that his physical powers diminished long ago, and when he proves otherwise we celebrate for him. We are impressed when an old woman professor can still give an extemporaneous lecture, drawing upon her memory