“Those who cannot learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana was not referring to Israel, but he might have been. When all is said and done, the fast of Tisha B’Av, the Ninth Day of Av, is a fast that symbolizes and commemorates bad decisions. The Israelites were always very good at that. The wonder is that…
Author: Jeremy Rosen
Napoleon
A few weeks ago we had the 200th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, the one which finally ended Napoleon’s career. My history teacher made us read Pieter Geyl’s “Napoleon For and Against”, which illustrated the two opposing opinions as to whether Napoleon was good or bad, and I learnt you do not always have to decide one way or…
Divine Supervision
I have always felt that in a democracy it should not be the role of a state to impose personal religious practices on its citizens. Any state bureaucracy tends to become corrupt and atrophies. Its employees become pen-pushers, placeholders concerned with protecting their positions, perks, and powers. So it is with religious bureaucracies like the Vatican. One sees this too…
Christians in Zion
Recent reports that some Charedi Jews disrupted a Christian mass on Mount Zion really upset me. When insensitive bullies who dress as and proclaim their obedience to Judaism treat Christians disrespectfully, especially those wishing to worship, they themselves are proving how far they fall short of Jewish values. The Jerusalem Post reported that “hundreds of Jewish protesters sought on Sunday…
Shame
The HBO series “Game of Thrones” is set somewhere in a mythical medieval past and is based on a series of fantasies by author George R. R. Martin. It is immensely popular because it is saturated with rivalry, incest, rape, murder, torture, sex, violence, dynastic power, religion, magic, and, of course, dragons. Not something a normal parent would want any…
Charisma
It just never seems to end. The press publicizes yet another case of a rabbi and teacher guilty of abusing his position in a sexual way. The roll call in recent years is a depressing one. Twenty names come immediately to mind, this year alone, of very Orthodox men convicted of sexual abuse of women or children. And these are…