Judaism

By Danny Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — The term “armageddon” — the imagined ”final battle” before the end opf the world — comes to us modern Jews from a word found in the Christian Book of Revelation where the apostle John writes about a monstrous war, noting  “And they gathered them together to the place

By Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — Regardless of its affiliation, a House of God is just that. Years ago, after a synagogue in Cleveland abruptly dismissed me as its spiritual leader, I discovered tenderness and healing in a regal old church. My daughter Sari and I were returning from what had been a pleasant—but

By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — As Pesach approaches, we need to clean the chametz out of our lives. There is some leftover Hamantaschen business in my life that I need to dispose of. Right before Purim I wrote an article about Hamantaschen. I explained the origins of the triangular cookie, but said I

By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — A newlywed couple in Jerusalem was spending their first Passover Seder at her parents. The girl was from a very prominent religious family. The boy was a budding Torah scholar. Both came from families of sterling character and reputation. During the meal, the young man noticed something floating

  By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK —  “I was wrong. I am sorry. Please forgive me.” These are rare words indeed, but I heard them pronounced clearly by a woman I once worked for, and whom I still admire. She was the superintendent of a small school district just outside of Washington, DC. Several

   By Leah R. Singer   SAN DIEGO — It may come as a surprise that Jews and Arabs both call Kentucky home. Even more of a shock, however, is the women of these two very different immigrants groups are actually quite similar as each struggle with negotiating their identities.  Growing up in Kentucky as

By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO –The Kapischnitzer Rebbe, Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heschel (1888-1967), was renowned for his love of every Jew. He lived in a very modest apartment. The furniture was simple and the floors were worn. Yet that was all he and his wife needed. One day, the Rebbe’s daughter said to him,

  By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK — “Words, words, words!”, he shouted at me. He was a young man, raised as an observant Jew, but now in rebellion against his traditional upbringing. His parents had asked me to meet with him for several sessions to see if I could at least temper his