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 […]
The importance of solitude Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy 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
Are we abusing Holocaust memory? Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — As a child of a Holocaust survivor, I find it hard to believe that the generation of my aunts and uncles, and father is rapidly coming to an end. The world gets older by the day; my family used to have a large number of relatives
Heroes of the Shoah: Rabbi Eliezer Silver Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California – In Shemini, the Torah portion for April 6, 2013, we read about the death of Aaron’s two sons, who died from an accidental explosion in the Tabernacle. Aaron’s reaction is quite telling–despite the absence of scriptural detail from the narrator. As is often the case with biblical
Stunned agony when we lose our children Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy 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
‘Kosher’ a cool word in the vernacular Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy 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
Torah teaches that respect for the aged is not enough Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel –Having grown up in a British home where Passover/Pesach was observed with rigour, it came as something of a shock when I arrived in Israel to find that not everyone did the same. It was only in Israel that I heard about people filling their fridges and freezers with bread
Search for chametz can go to an extreme Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –Many people would be surprised to hear that the charge of drinking blood was a common accusation made against the nascent Christian religion in the first three centuries of its existence. Yes, this historical fact is true and recorded in the annals of ancient history. The Roman
When Christians were victims of blood libels Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Yehuda Ben Hanan LOS ANGELES — I helped to start MAZELTOV.COM, an event-centric social-network, with a deep-rooted emphasis on charitable giving. The word “Mazeltov!” has been adopted by people of all faiths from around the globe, but for Jews, this word carries with it a rich history and tradition. Our story started in 1995,
Mazeltov.com–What’s it all about? Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM– Here’s a crop of articles that arrived in my Inbox in the last week: The Jewish Chronicle of London (March 21) has an article about Lord Ahmed, Britain’s first Muslim peer, who has been suspended by the country’s Labour Party because of a statement he made in his native Pakistan that
Anti-Semitism increasing in Europe Read More »
Jewish Religion
SAN DIEGO — Melanie Rubin, who spotted this gem, asks: “Does it take chutzpa to put chutzpa on your license plate?” In our opinion, not at all. Just a sense of humor.
Jewish license plate: Chutzpa Read More »
Jewish Religion, Melanie RubinBy Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — The historian Thomas Cahill published an exalted and cogent book in 1998 entitled The Gifts of the Jews. This is the season that especially proves his point. Passover is the best gift we ever gave to the world; nobody who was ever a human being could turn down
The song of Passover Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Michael Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –Children have an unusual ability when it comes to confronting our spiritual hypocrisy as parents and as adults; very often they get to the essence of the problem as they perceive things. Frequently, as parents, we often fail to hear the questions our young people ask of us;
Pushing the seder leader’s buttons Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiThe Passover story, told to the songs of Les Miserables, by the Maccabeats:
‘Les Miserables’ of Passover Read More »
Jewish Religion