Shimshon ( Samson) is the great Jewish hero. The symbol of Jewish defiance and overcoming odds, throughout the ages. Yet the character described in the Book of Judges (Shoftim) is both complex and contradictory. From birth he was a Nazarite. The Nazir was described in the Book of Bamidbar (Chapter 6) as anyone, man or woman, who chose to be more religious, to take on an…
Author: Jeremy Rosen
Yeshivahs
A place where you sit! To many people in Israel, a Yeshiva conjures up religious men refusing to serve in the Israeli army. But there is a more noble history to it. 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…
Who is to Blame?
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,…