Carmel College Reunion – March 20th, 2010Village Hotel, Elstree, London Carmel College was a magnificent adventure and experiment in Anglo-Jewish education that lasted from 1948 until 1997. For many people it was a defining experience in their lives. Having been involved in Carmel through my father, as a pupil and later headmaster, I remember vividly how difficult it always was…
Author: Jeremy Rosen
Study
Education has been the bedrock of Jewish religious life for thousands of years. The Torah insists that “you should teach your children”. We recite this phrase at least three times a day whenever we say the Shema (a declaration, not a prayer). After the Bible, the next greatest book in Judaism is the Mishna (which together with its companion the…
Special Blog Post – Proud To Be A Religious Jew
On this blog I have often criticized the abuses of religion. Here’s a clip I’d like you to see because this is the other side–a Kiddush HaShem, giving God, religion, and Judaism a good name. I am proud to have gone to the same school as Dr. Tate! Dr. Joseph Tate on PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly
Dangerous Tefilin
So here is this innocent youngster on a flight in the USA trying to put on his tefilin, modestly and as inconspicuously as possible, in his seat. The air hostess has never seen these funny black boxes and straps before. They look like a device. Could be he is a suicide bomber strapping himself into a bomb. Panic. The kid…
Rabbi Jesus
Recently, Shlomo Riskin, an American Israeli Orthodox rabbi, came in for sustained attack because he was shown on a Christian Embassy video referring to “Rabbi Jesus”. Such was the brouhaha that Rabbi Riskin had to defend himself, claiming not to have praised Jesus. He said, “I never praised the character or the personality of the person in whose name Jews…
Spit and Pray
Ever since I first encountered the very insular Jews who live in parts of Jerusalem in 1957, I have been aware that some of them have the habits of throwing stones at people they do not approve of and of spitting. I don’t mean spitting to clear the throat. Lots of people do that. It is common in the Middle…