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“V’shamru v’nai Yisrael et haShabbat, la’asot et haShabbat l’dorotam b’rit olam….” The Israelite people shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout the ages as a covenant for all time: Ex. 31:16 This familiar Saturday morning Kiddush verse comes from this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tissa. But the Torah says relatively little about how the Sabbath is to be observed. ...
For me, Purim’s predominant, eternal theme is the precariousness of life for all Jews. In a land ruled by others, even one that apparently welcomed and accepted us, (according to a Midrash, Mordecai, known to be a Jew, was a member of the royal security police; even if not, he was publicly honored for his action), an anti-Semite was nearly able to wipe us out. Only a series of unlikely “coincidences” ...
I am about to do what more than 100 generations – untold millions – of Jews could not: help shape the future of a sovereign, democratic Jewish nation. As an American lawyer and historian, when I head to the polls in the US I think not only about the issues and candidates, and my choices, but more generally about the great privilege and responsibility of voting in American elections. Still, voting for the first time as a citizen of Israel is sure to be profoundly moving. How should I vote? ...
This week we read the Torah portion B’shallah, in which, most famously, G-d splits the sea and the Israelites are saved from destruction. We celebrate the “holiday of trees” -- Tu B’shevat (the 15th day of the month of Shevat) and, here in Israel, we voted in national elections. Coincidentally, this week I also learned, in Ulpan (Hebrew language school), that the word for “consult” is: להתייעץ (“l’heet-ya-etz”). Because the last two letters – etz -- are the word for “tree,” our teacher suggested that we remember the word for “consult” with the sentence: “I consult with a tree.” ...
A couple of years ago I read about a group of American Jewish teens on a Birthright or similar trip to Israel. After a meal, one of them apparently said: “It’s time to say the Birkat.” One of the soldiers guarding them said: “You must not even know what that word means; you can’t say “the Birkat;” it’s not a word you can use by itself. (The subtext to the remark was, “You think you are superior Jews because you say a prayer in Hebrew, but you don’t even understand what you are saying!” The kids responded ...
In recent years at this time, I have researched the story of Hanukah, dressed up as Simon Ben Mattathias to give “dramatic historical presentations” at synagogues, and even lectured about Hanukah aboard cruise ships. This year, I’m doing something quite different …
This week I depart from my Torah commentary to describe two upsetting, related incidents in connection with my Rosh Hashanah visit to a Liberal Judaism movement congregation in the UK. They both involved Israel. In the first ...
This week I made a list of potential themes for my D’var Torah:
1. Jews as the “Chosen People” 2. The “Ten Commandments” 3. The Commandment to “Do the Right and the Good” 4. Siyum Hashas (the completion of the 7.5 year Talmud study cycle) 5. This Shabbat’s designation as Shabbat Nachamu 6. The Aleinu prayer with which we end each service. Each of these, among others, appealed to me. Perhaps because I have just returned to Jerusalem and have not yet caught up on sleep, I found myself unable to decide which to write about. So, I thought I’d try briefly weaving them all together!
Letter to the LA Times Editor: Miko Peled’s Op-Ed “Six days, 45 years later” (6/6/12) is highly misleading. While opposing the policies and decisions of one’s government, past and present, on principle is perfectly legitimate and even noble, spreading hateful misinformation in the guise of “activism” is unconscionable. As the son of an Israeli general, Peled surely knows that the Arabs, not Israel, are primarily to blame for the Palestinian refugee situation, for the “occupation” and most of its unfortunately necessary evils, and for the fact that there is still no Palestinian state. Yet his Op-Ed is little more than vituperative Palestinian propaganda against Israel. He has either forgotten the history he learned in school or is determined to ignore it. Those who seek a just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should do neither. At the end of WWI, ...
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