You may have seen a video doing the rounds, The Islamic Tidal Wave, about the demographics of survival and the clear message that within our lifetime Islam will have conquered the world through its birth rate. Of course it is a Christian scare video to get good believers to rabbit away to save the Kingdom of Christ. In its over-simplicity…
Shaking It
I am all for customs. They add variety, exoticism, and often humor into our ever more pressurized and material world. And Judaism has its fair share of strange things to do. If you take them all as friendly pointers, as ways of thinking and acting differently to the way one habitually does, they can add some spice to life and…
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Talented film director Roman Polanski was accused and convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl some thirty years ago. There was some sympathy for him at the time. His wife Sharon Tate had been brutally murdered by the Manson “family” and he was in a state of emotional shock. But he fled the United States and lived in France and travelled…
Why blog?
This is, of course, the time of the year for reflection and self-examination. Amongst the things I ask myself is why do I keep on writing my weekly pieces? It has been ten years since I started sending out weekly comments on the Torah by email. That morphed into weekly essays on Jewish topics, and then turned into what is…
Be Happy
When we consider religion we rarely think of fun or joy. Usually it is control, discipline, and awe. As we enter the period often described as the Days of Awe, I wonder what the value of being somber is. There is an early tradition of combining joy with restraint. In Hebrew it is Gilu BiRe’ada, “Serve the Lord with awe…
Birthright, Birthwrong
Non-Orthodox American Jews are seriously worried about their future. Assimilation is increasing and vast numbers of young Jews seem to be disappearing from the ranks. Over the years the panaceas have lost their attraction–secular Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust, new age alternatives, even kabbala. So the idea emerged that free trips to Israel with no agenda other than experiencing Israel might just…