If one had to think of Judaism’s major contribution to the world, one might think of the Ten Commandments. Everyone seems to approve of them (until they look to see what they really say). In one way, they play a far more significant role in Christian life than they do in Judaism. These “Ten” appear all over the world in…
Powerful Women
This week we read about two great biblical women who sang songs! In the Torah Miriam, leads the women of Israel in a song and a dance to validate their role in the Exodus. We have already seen the nurturing side of her character in the way she protected her brother. And the Haftarah is about Deborah, a powerful judge.…
Islam and Jerusalem
Why is the Muslim world up in arms against Jerusalem being declared the capital of Israel? After all, Jerusalem is made up of different areas, just as Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, and Staten Island are all part of New York City. The part of Jerusalem that contains the Knesset and is the administrative heart of Israel is located on…
Kosher Wine
Last year, there was not one single fatality on commercial airlines, and there hasn’t been a fatality on a US commercial flight since 2009. Whereas in 2016 road accidents accounted for 37,461 fatalities in the US and 335 in Israel. You may be aware that there is a special blessing called Tefilat Haderech, the prayer for travel, which one says before…
Aesthetics
Aesthetics plays an important part in the theological and philosophical tradition that started in Greece and flowed right through the Christian intellectual world to the present. Such a concept is not referred to in classical Judaism. Does this mean that the aesthetic plays absolutely no part in Jewish life? Not at all. But it does mean that we need to…
Churches
My Uncle Henry introduced me to Verdi’s Requiem as a teenager, and I have been hooked on church music ever since. Sure, I ignore the theology. I can repeat the Latin text, but the words have no more significance for me than birdsong. This time of the year I remember when, some 50 years ago, friends took me to a…