We are told not to judge a book by its cover, but most of us do. In their inimitable way, our sages tell us, “Don’t look at the cask; look at the wine. Aged casks can be filled with new wine, and new casks can be filled with aged wine” …
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Equal Access
When the words religious egalitarian are spoken they usually refer to gender equality, but I have something entirely different in mind. I am referring to the absence of a caste system in Judaism. Jews don’t subscribe to a pyramid scheme that requires the laity to access G-d via priests …
Sometimes it is hard to feel that G-d is in our corner. It feels as if Murphy’s Law is G-d’s Law. Everything that could go wrong, does, and G-d does nothing to save the day. The baby is ill, the roof is leaking, the coffee maker is on the blink, …
The Gardens
Seeking an escape from the fast pace of the big city, I used to visit the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Strolling along quiet lanes, I would breathe in the fragrance and enjoy the scenic beauty. Sitting peacefully by the pond, I would close my eyes and try to leave the city …
They hate us. Not for anything we do or did. They just hate us. The past month saw a near-daily rash of attacks against Jews. These weren’t isolated attacks by right-wing radicals and white supremacists. These were attacks by ordinary members of the black community against Jews in New York. …
These past two days have been the most difficult for our people in the last fifty years. It was Simchat Torah, a time for rejoicing, yet it was a time of horror. Nearly a thousand members of our family were brutally murdered, more than a hundred were taken hostage, and …
