I have been invited to speak at a forum to be held at the United Nations on the suffering and abuse of women and children in war zones, specifically but not exclusively, in Africa. When I tried to find out why I had been invited to speak altogether, and particularly on a subject I have no expertise on, I was…
The Pope and The Jews
Pope Benedict’s resignation sends an important message to our own religious leadership. Know when it’s time to step down. What humility it takes for someone to realize that he does not have the strength or the capacity to lead such a significant movement. No pope has had that quality for over six hundred years. Like most geriatric leaders, they have…
Purim 2013
It always amazes me how Judaism has succeeded in evolving (or shall we say, for the sake of political correctness, reinvigorating itself). After all, the Bible took orgiastic pagan harvest festivals and turned them into disciplined, monotheistic family celebrations. Shapatu, the Mesopotamian Seventh Day, was transformed from an evil day of fear and bad luck into one of rest and…
Menachem Elon and Theocracy
One of the greatest of Jewish jurists, Menachem Elon, former Supreme Court Judge in Israel, died this week. He was steeped in the Talmudic tradition as well as the secular, and he was a moral, just human being. He stood for a balance between the standards of Jewish law and the more universal and sometimes contradictory demands of a pluralistic,…
Marrying Out
Recently I have been asked once again to intervene in situations where a young Jew wants to marry a non-Jew. It is such a difficult position to be in. Love is a beautiful emotion and on the other hand, marriage is such a complex, difficult, and challenging state. Of course it is immensely rewarding when it works. Being Jewish is…
The Women of the Wall
Despite the elections, the little turf wars of Israeli society continue to add to the tensions of daily life. Here’s a story about another political campaign over the right of some women to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem in a manner of their choosing. Of course, this is not an issue over the right to pray. Jewish men…