We can look at our fellow and just see their faults, or just see their strengths. The Torah enjoins us to see our fellow as golden.
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A shame culture is one in which the individual is pressured to conform to the collective. Deviation from cultural norms is punishable by public shaming and ostracism. In a shame culture, people carefully groom their public personas—the image acceptable to the majority. A shame culture operates under the assumption that …
Can there be charity without poverty?
The world is on a warpath to eradicate poverty. Many billionaires, and wealthy developed countries, are investing heavily in poorer countries and hope to eradicate poverty by 2030. If that happens, the question is, what will happen to charity? Will it become a thing of …
The uplifting return that marks the first ten days of the Hebrew calendar year is expressed in the name that tradition has assigned to this Shabbat: Shabbat Shuvah, the Shabbat of return. In English, when we speak of regret and of turning over a new leaf, we call it repentance. …
As we approach the Yhartzeit
(anniversary of passing) of Ilan Ramon, the Israeli Astronaut who died
in the explosion of the Columbia Space Shuttle, we present the
following thoughts.
Grieving the True Loss
The explosion of the
Columbia Space Shuttle shook the world. The loss of Ilan Ramon, the
first Israeli astronaut in Space, brought the Jewish world …
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 …
