General Topics

Sukot 2010

The Englishman John Keats wrote a beautiful poem, To Autumn, in 1820: Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;Conspiring with him how to load and blessWith fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shellsWith…

Continue Reading

General Topics

Yom Kipur 2010

Every year on Yom Kipur, Jews list their errors and determine to be better. But you and I know that most of us are unlikely to change very much, if at all. The religious bigot is going to stay a bigot. The Chasid will not turn into a Litvak. The hardliner will not become soft, nor will the man who…

Continue Reading

General Topics

Rosh Hashana 2010

One of the most interesting features of a God relationship is the way we use language. God “speaks” as He creates. “And God said, ‘Let there be’.” Man is a “speaking animal”. The Decalogue puts tremendous emphasis on not taking God’s name in vain and not speaking false testimony. Language matters because it can sometimes be so damaging. There are…

Continue Reading

General Topics

Fate or Faith?

The Jewish Week recently published a review, written by Steven Bayme, of a book by Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the UK. The review said that Rabbi Sacks disagrees with the late and great Rav Soloveitchik’s belief that it is a shared fate that unites Jews. Rabbi Sacks insists it is a shared faith. Rav Soloveitchik Z”L doesn’t need me…

Continue Reading

General Topics

Ground Zero Mosque

Last week I wrote an op-ed piece for Ha’aretz on the mosque, or center, or both (depends who you ask) near Ground Zero in Manhattan. The theme of the article was that in free and open societies where all weird and strange religions are allowed to flourish and compete on the market, one cannot and indeed should not try to…

Continue Reading

General Topics

Love Betrayed

So you have fallen in love. You are in a relationship. You think you are happy. And then the other betrays you. There are lots of different ways of betraying. It does not just have to be the ultimate, the sexual, though that is the one the Bible focuses on. Modern society, with its greater emphasis on psychology and analyzing…

Continue Reading