The ignorant (or brainwashed) , useful idiots who call for the destruction of a Jewish homeland, claim that the Mandate that granted Jews a homeland was not only a mistake but an original sin. When in fact it was a brief moment in history when the allies who oversaw the end of the Ottoman Empire realized that the Jews had suffered…
Yeshivas: A place where you sit!
What is a Yeshivah? A place where you sit, literally. Of course, you can do many things when you sit. From meditation to wasting time! In the USA a Yeshivah can be a Jewish school which may include secular and Jewish studies. But in most other places, it is an academy for intensive Talmudic study which may last a few years or…
Migration and Assimilation
There are very different reasons why Jews have always migrated, and many have assimilated. When we feel insecure some of us just sit the crisis out. Others just move on to more welcoming or financially more promising situations. The present is no different but here are two examples from the past. In 1985 I became the rabbi of the Western…
Orgies
Since we are in the midst of party season, I am reminded of the strange history of Jewish parties that went wrong. Orgies in the forests of Poland organized in the name of Jewish mysticism by someone called Jacob Frank. Yes, indeed, and that was the least of it. Jacob Frank was born in eastern Poland, which is now in Ukraine,…
Been There
We like to think that Chanukah was the great victory of Judah the son of Mattityahu the Priest ( who iniated the resistance ) against the mighty Syrian or Seleucid Greeks over two thousand years ago. The Seleucid campaign against Judea began when Antiochus the 4th invaded in 167 BCE). He believed his culture was far superior to that of the Jews…
Wind and Sun
A few weeks ago, The Economist ran an article referring to Sir Isaiah Berlin. He was an outstanding Jewish Oxford intellectual who my father knew and admired. The article was about whether or not Britain should allow for what is called assisted dying. It’s a subject that had been before parliament for generations. Subsequently parliament decided to approve the act. In the…