Columns

There didn’t seem any point in having the diamonds removed and each of us taking one; what would we do with it?

Faith means that we worship and praise God before we affirm His existence; we respond before we question

If you seek to understand an accusation, look at the accuser, not the accused. That is the key to the Korach affair and to understanding anti-Semitism.

To add to her distress, this close friend has a lifetime history of complications in her relationship with her mother, her only living parent. Thus, she struggles without the benefit of family support.

Originally, Judaism was highly unorthodox. While it always believed in God and Torah, it never offered any specifics of what God meant or what Torah consisted of.

Mitchell Geller was inducted as a Jewish chaplain; a rabbi and a beard go hand in hand. To tell a rabbi to take off his beard would be akin to telling a Catholic Father to remove his collar.

We were fortunate enough to have our brother-in-law, sister-in-law and their children fly out from the east coast and join us for one such summer expedition. And it subsequently turned out to be by far the most memorable of all.

Despite the Divine anger, the people were not condemned to permanent exile. They simply had to face the fact that their children would achieve what they themselves were not ready for.

My suggestion: Restore the Kotel to its former state, a place where all are welcome and used solely for individual prayer and meditation, just as our ancestors treated it throughout our long history.

Admittedly, it is much easier to see the potential of a toilet paper roll if one has worked in a nursery school, or as a camp counselor, art teacher or creative stay-at-home Mom.

According to Maimonides there is not one model of the virtuous life, but two. He calls them, respectively, the way of the saint (chassid) and the sage (chacham).

Mommie was distressed because praying for the welfare of her dear family was the foundation of her belief in HaKodesh Boruch Hu, whom she served everyday of her life in innocence and in purity.

Although I spontaneously burst out crying that my beloved Tatty was no more, part of me acknowledged that positive development as well.

The story of Air Force Chaplain Rabbi Geller's options concerning his beard: "Either you go to the barber shop or you go to jail."

Pinchas told his friend how he had felt that he would need to be with someone he knew to help him and his mother through a very difficult Shabbat. Hashem granted him and his mother this chesed.

Without belief in the covenant, there would be no State of Israel or any significant Jewish history after the Holocaust. Jews kept hope alive; Hope kept the Jewish people alive.

“One of the drivers is nearby right now, and will pick you up between 9:05 and 9:07!” Very good tidings indeed. Except for the fact that I was then distributing freshly washed laundry while listening to the 9 PM News.

What is the difference between philosophy and the political vision at the heart of Tanach? The answer lies in their different understandings of time.

Dani unwrapped the book and was very happy as it was exactly what he wanted.

In a way not shared by any other festival, Sukkot celebrates the dual nature of Jewish faith: the universality of G-d and the particularity of Jewish existence.

As Jews became defined by religion, Christians could work to convert them--You can change your religion but you cannot change your race

Apart from that, the Oneg was a great success with inspiring divrei Torah and singing until late.

It is quite a mind-shift to look at your life from the future. This entails thinking about your greatest legacy, how will one be remembered?

We were reintroduced and Leah warmly welcomed me to ask what was in my heart. Her genuine warmth and sweet loving smile overwhelmed me.

Though dozens of beautiful and memorable Pesachs have passed since that fateful chag thirty-five years ago, the memory of that tragic Yom Tov is forever engrained in our family’s collective memory.

I was dumbstruck. I couldn’t help but laugh. Here we thought the idea was my husband’s but obviously the idea came from somewhere else.

Social media brought about a return to an ancient phenomenon, public shaming providing us a way of understanding the otherwise bewildering phenomenon of tsara’at,

This Torah family, despite being in mourning, truly understood the value of every act and how it could change the world.

Baruch Hashem, I have plenty of family in Israel, but Miriam’s host was not “family” per se, though her host would differ with me on this fact, rather someone whose family had an impact on me over 50 years ago!

The sedrah of Tazria begins with the law of circumcision Why this physical mark on the flesh? What does it tell us about the nature of Jewish identity?