There is an expression “There is no fool like an old fool.” I have often wondered whether this is a comment on stupidity or old age. And please don’t tell me it’s not woke to talk about old anything. The Torah contains two laws about old age. “You should rise before an old man Sayva and honor a Zaken(Leviticus 19:32).” Sayva ( is often translated…
Who Was Sanballat?
Does this name mean anything to you? He is mentioned in the Bible as someone who tried desperately to prevent the Judeans from rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. A quick historical recap. The Assyrian King Sargon the 2nd conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE. As was his policy, he exiled most of the pagan ten northern tribes to…
Robespierre and Saadyah
Robespierre (1758 –1794) was one of the most controversial figures of the French Revolution. He rose from obscurity to play an important part in the fall of the French Monarchy. In the chaos that followed, France was torn apart by civil strife, conflicting ideologies on the left and the right, a reign of terror with thousands guillotined, civil war, famine, and the…
Memory
“Remember…Don’t forget” (Deuteronomy 25:17&19). Yizkor, The Memorial Prayer, is a very popular custom, if I may use an inappropriate word, mainly in the Ashkenazi world. On the last day of each of the three Biblically ordained Pilgrim Festivals, Pesach, Shavuot,and Sucot, we add memorial prayers for departed parents or other lost relatives. Although remembering the dead goes back a long way, the custom of…
Shavuot 2022
You might think there is little left original to write about the Festival of Shavuot that we are about to celebrate. We know its Biblical, agricultural origins, the importance of nature without its subservience to it, and the celebration of the seasons. We know of its umbilical 49-day connection to Pesach, from the barley harvest to wheat. The story of…