I was reeling from the inhuman aggression of the maniacal Strangelove Putin on an independent country causing the deaths of hundreds of children when I thought of the words of Leonard Cohen in “The story of Isaac.” You who build the altars nowTo sacrifice these childrenYou must not do it anymoreA scheme is not a visionYou never have been temptedBy…
General Topics
Death
Last week’s blog about Organ Donation got me thinking about death and to what extent it matters and to whom. And the invasion of Ukraine made me wonder what is worth dying for. I recalled a story in the Talmud about Bar Avin, who said that when a person dies, we should cry for those who are left behind and…
Organ Donor
“ Is it true that if I donate an organ to another person I will not be allowed to be buried and go to heaven?” When I recovered from the shock of being asked this question after a Shabbat morning service, I asked the young person, a student at one of the best Orthodox Jewish Day schools in New York, where…
Origins of Orthodoxy
I have just read Jacob Katz: On the Origins of Orthodoxy. It is an important collection of articles by and about the late Professor Katz, transcripts of interviews, as well as a bibliography. Edited by Giti Bendheim, Menachem Butler, Jay M. Harris, Uriel Katz and published by Shikey Press. This book is to be recommended both because of Professor Katz’s importance as…
Talmud for Dummies
I do not waste my time on TikTok ( indeed I have all but cut myself off from any social media simply to save my time for more important things). But now and again someone sends me a clip, usually for amusement. One I received recently was of a pretty young lady called Miriam Anzovin who delivers herself of a highly amusing…
Gerontocracy
Old age, Senior Citizens, Geriatrics are all rather pejorative terms for people who have reached a certain age or stage in their lives. Like me! Shakespeare’s famous description of the stages of humanity is in “As You Like It.” Human beings go through seven stages from infancy to old age, dotage, and death. “The Last scene of all that ends…