One of the most well known quotes from the Talmud goes, “Rava said: It is a man’s duty to get so drunk on Purim that he cannot tell the difference between ‘Cursed be Haman’ and ‘Blessed be Mordecai’” (Gemara Megilah 7b). The text goes on to give an example of how too much wine can lead to murder, and as…
Special Blog Post – Carmel College Reunion
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…
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…