By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — A few years ago our youngest daughter, Margalit, called us on my day off. “Where are you?” she asked. “At the cemetery,” we replied. “What are you doing there?” she asked. “Picking out graves!” we answered. We freaked her out. While Judy and I were not expecting […]
Abraham’s experience provides funeral-arrangement lesson Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO–The Slonimer Rebbe, of blessed memory, asked: On Friday night when we sit down to our Shabbos meal the first thing we do is welcome the Angels into our home. ‘Shalom Aleichem! Malachei HaShareis.’ We recite ‘Peace unto you, oh ministering angels.’ Hashem (G-d) sends the holiest guests to our
Welcoming and saying farewell to Shabbat angels Read More »
Jewish Religion
The Philosophy of the Hebrew Scripture by Yoram Hazony, Cambridge University Press, New York; ISBN 978-0-521-17667-5 ©2012, $24.99, p. 273, plus notes and indices. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California –Placing the word “philosophy” next to the expression “Hebrew Scriptures” seems to be incongruous; after all, philosophy is about using reason to find “truths” to
Shepherds vs farmers: a queston of biblical philosophy Read More »
Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — When Abraham bargained with God to save the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, he prefaced his challenge by telling God, “Here I venture to speak to my Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.” (Gen. 18:27) With these words Abraham acknowledged the inadequacy of his position and
Abraham demonstrated true humility Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Most of you are familiar with Macbeth, which is considered to be one of the most psychologically gripping plays by Shakespeare. Macbeth tells the story about a Scottish lord named Macbeth, who chooses evil as a means of attaining power. He commits regicide to become king and
In spirit of Halloween, here’s the Witch of Endor Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Paul Foer and Chananette Pascal Cohen/JNS.org Sonya Loya’s path of rediscovery aligns with the journey potentially millions of other “Crypto-Jews” take back to their Jewish roots. Her story, and the stories of others with similar backgrounds, is also still unfolding—with legal action against the Catholic Church as the possible next chapter. Loya—a Hispanic-American woman
B’nei Anousim consider Spanish Inquisition lawsuits Read More »
Jewish Religion, Middle EastBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California —There is hardly a day that passes when I don’t marvel at the power of individuals to move mountains and change history. Abraham believed he could change and transform the world. It is all the more remarkable, when we consider Abraham’s age. The Torah tells us that
By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — Last week I wrote about the well-known midrash that compares Noah’s moral immaturity to Abraham’s moral maturity. Noah, the “hero” of the flood story, was saved because: “…Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age; Noah walked with God.” (Gen 6:9) However, later on when
Walking beside, before, and behind HaShem Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — When we think of Avodas Hashem (Service of G-d) it pays to think of it as we would think of a business, as the following story illustrates: One day, at a top-level meeting of a successful corporation: “Please bring me the test results of the new personnel. I
The test ‘Our Boss’ sets out for us Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — “It was a hundred years ago,” said the gentleman encountered at a conference. “Why do you people still keep talking about it?” I corrected him and responded that it was not a hundred years ago; that the Wannsee Conference of top Nazi officers—a number of whom held doctorates—was
Why we keep talking about the Holocaust Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK –If you are reading this column regularly, you may remember that Miriam was the shy participant in the class that I have been describing. You will surely remember that this was a class in which I used the book of Genesis as a springboard for discussions about leadership.
Noah and Abraham were different kinds of leaders Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Obviously Jewish survival must depend upon something more than empty sentimentalism. There must be something more than a cultural Jewish identity that finds Jewish fulfillment in bagels and lox. While many Jews live a nostalgically religious life, at least an equally large number have become ambivalent
When Jews seek spirituality elsewhere Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiDexter Van Zile writes that the letter calling on Congress to investigate military aid to Israel—which prompted major Jewish groups to walk away from interfaith dialogue—has all the markings of Churches for Middle East Peace, an organization that interprets its mandate to promote peace as a call to assail Israel with one-sided criticism and treat
Christian letter on Israel a ‘big muddy’ for their leaders Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — Noah, the “hero” of the flood story, was saved because: “…Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age; Noah walked with God.” (Gen 6:9) However, later on when God spoke to Avraham, he instructed him: “…walk before Me and be blameless…” (Gen. 17:1) That is,
Noah not so righteous as Abraham Read More »
Jewish Religion