We have just celebrated another New Year. I was not specifically thinking of 2022, although that too. Or of Tu BiShvat, the Fifteenth Day of the Month of Shevat. The New Year for Trees. One of four different New Years as recorded in the Talmud ( Rosh Hashana ). Why are there so many New Years? Which got me thinking about…
Do Not Trust Princes
I was born during the Second World War when it seemed that Hitler was going to conquer the world. Of course, had he, I would not be here today. I grew up during the Cold War when we fully expected Russia to drop a bomb on us. The powerful Stalinist Soviet Union challenged the West both ideologically and militarily. The…
Another Scandal
Why does every religion seem to have a problem with sex criminal clergy sheltering under its protection? In our Jewish world too. The Charedi world has been shaken by another sex abuse scandal. This latest case of a man called Chaim Walder has, like no other, rocked the community. He was a very popular writer of children’s books about religious…
Desmond Tutu and the Jews
Archbishop Desmond Tutu who has just died, was a Nobel Prize winner, a hero of the anti-apartheid movement. Yet despite all his many qualities, he had a real problem with Jews and the Jewish State. He had many Jewish friends and admirers. But his blatantly anti-Semitic rhetoric on public record, consistently, simply proved that you can be a likable, even…
Why Religion
Whenever I hear people talk, or I see articles about religion in general and Judaism in particular, I feel disconnected. The word conjures up a lot of negativity because of the abuses of religion. But it is also because when one talks about matters of faith, belief, or religion it is usually about a system of thought, a doxy, orthodox or not.…
Tainted Money
An Oxford University Professor, Lawrence Goldman, together with Sir Lloyd Dorfman and other influential alumni, have suggested the British government should intervene because they believe that Oxford University has lost its moral compass in accepting money from tainted sources. In this case, the twelve million pounds comes from the inheritance left by Max Mosley’s father, Oswald Mosley, the leader of the…