Last week I received a pained email from a friend and former pupil of mine from England who was worried about our future as Jews. Here is his letter (abbreviated): “Last week I went to a talk by Tuvia Tenenbom, and it really was a bit of a shock to the system. His point was that Israel was being completing undermined by…
General Topics
Education for Immigrants
Ever since the Greeks, the Romans, the Christians, and the Muslims tried to impose their cultures on us, Judaism has had an uneasy relationship with other value systems. It is not that we want to say that ours is the only way and everyone else is wrong. Just that our values and our religion are worth preserving and fighting for.…
Religious Risk
There is no word I know of in the Bible for “risk.” Modern Hebrew uses the word “Sakanah”, which really means “danger.” “Risk” in modern usage can also mean opportunity and a healthy ability to go beyond the boundaries in a positive way. The opposite of risk (which you might think undermines my etymological analysis) is to play it safe.…
Efraim Karsh
Nowadays reasoned, calm political debate is as lost as Atlantis. In most societies. Positions are as polarized and as a result the views and opinions that circulate most and are read most, tend to be those of the extremes. This was brought home to me recently after reading Efraim Karsh’s latest book The Tail Wags the Dog: International Politics and…
Ecclesiastes
It has been a while since I tackled a theological subject. But a recent need for self-criticism and introspection drew me back to one of my favorite biblical books, Ecclesiastes (or Kohelet). Traditionally it is attributed to King Solomon. Of course, like all the books of the Bible, there is much debate about its origin, date, and author. But I…
A Rosh Yeshiva
Fifty years ago I had the privilege of studying in a great yeshiva in Israel. In those days there were none of the more modern yeshivot that welcomed students from different backgrounds and levels of knowledge and religious commitment. There were only a few “hardcore” yeshivot that modeled themselves on, and were hardly different than, the great academies of Lithuania.…