Articles in B’Har
B’har Bechukotai: Grassroots Jews
Is It You?
Every movement likes to call itself “grassroots” because that means it arose from the people. It is better to lead a movement that everyone wants than a movement whose momentum is artificially generated. Grassroots means that the people’s desire generated the movement. When the desire generates a movement, …
Behar: Alone In The World
Entebbe
Next month will mark the fortieth anniversary of Israel’s finest hour, the hostage rescue at Entebbe. When the crisis began in June of 1976, Israel firmly believed that the fate of the Jewish hostages was the legal responsibility of France, under whose flag the airplane had flown when it was …
B’har: Jewish Pride
Sense of Self
Is pride a dirty word? It’s often listed alongside lust and greed, but is it really bad? I suppose it depends on what you are proud of. If you have Jewish pride, if you take pride in your Jewishness, it isn’t altogether bad, but if you take pride …
B’har: Going on Holiday
Sabbatical
I love the Sabbath, I really do. It’s a twenty-four hour break from monotony. The tedium of routine that constitutes our week can wear us down. The Sabbath is like going on holiday. It rides in on Friday evening, like a knight in shining armor, to save us from ourselves.
Behar: When Bin Laden Was Gone
Good Things Are Worth Waiting For
One of CNN’s first articles the morning after Osama Bin Laden’s assassination featured reaction from people on the streets of America. One reaction that drew my attention was, “I never thought this day would come; I had given up hope.”
Behar Bechukotai: Choose Your Reality
Anomalies
This essay tells you to choose your reality, but how does reality become a matter of choice? The answer is found in a curious anomaly. There are several anomalous words in the Torah that appear at first blush completely out of context. By tradition, when reading those verses, we substitute …
B’har Bechukotai: Spiritual Significance of Volcanoes
Frailties of Nature
Have you ever wondered about the spiritual significance of volcanoes? Well wonder no more. This essay is your answer.
There are rocks and there are plants. The difference between them; one can grow, the other cannot. There are two kinds of people; those who grow, change and adjust …
Behar: Food for Thought for your Dinner Table
Sunday: Three-Fifty-Four
Why are we obligated to let our fields lie fallow once every seven years? Rabbi Yonasan Eibshitz offered the following explanation. There are fifty-two Shabbats in a year, amounting to 312 Shabbats over the course of six years. Seven annual Biblical holidays, the first and last of Pesach, the …
