With the fast of Tisha B'Av approaching, I wanted to put out a quick and simple thought to my readers: Take care of those around you - your family and friends, the strangers you meet -- even your enemies.
Articles
July 15th, 2010
Mi Casa Es Su Casa
Although my knowledge of Spanish does not exceed the vocabulary used in Dora the Explorer, this past Friday afternoon, when we arrived at Rabbi Bentzion Klatzko's house for Shabbos and he told me, "Mi casa es su casa," even I knew what he was talking about.
July 9th, 2010
Lindsay Lohan and the Blame Game
Whether or not you care to keep up with the latest gossip coming out of Hollywood, doing something as simple as logging on to email basically guarantees that you will. Which means that almost everyone at this point has heard the recent news in the ongoing saga of actress Lindsay Lohan who has been sentenced to ninety days in jail for probation violations.
July 1st, 2010
Pour Out Your Kindness Like Water
I’ll call her Lindsay in order to protect the innocent; the only one really guilty of anything was me. You see, I found Lindsay to be annoying -- like really, really annoying. The very sight of her drinking water made my skin crawl. Well, it wasn’t just the way she drank the water, it was also the way she poured it. She always poured it into the same orange plastic cup inside which she always placed a straw. As I’d watch that straw bob up and down with the water’s glub, glub, I’d scream in my head, “why aren’t you drinking straight out of the bottle like the rest of us?”
June 21st, 2010
(Former) Hebrew School Nerd
I'll admit it. I was a Hebrew school nerd. I didn't hide under my desk like the other kids did if the teacher left the room, I refused to play toss the yarmulke in the halls as we'd walk to assemblies, and I never dreamed of making fun of my fourth grade teacher's penciled-on eyebrows (though I did wonder where her real ones went).
May 27th, 2010
The Torah of Lost
One of my favorite kabalistic principles is that pleasure in this world is a result of creating unity in one's life. Therefore, certain foods are pleasing to our palates because there's a unity within the flavors. Similarly, certain combinations of musical notes sound pleasant to our ears when they are put together harmoniously. The same thing can be said about color combinations in visual arts, and unity, of course, is pleasing when we achieve it in our relationships.
May 18th, 2010
The Chosen (Last) People
The idea that the Jewish nation considers itself to be the "chosen people" is something that rubs many people the wrong way. Such a term smacks of elitism and supremacy. Do we Jews really believe that we have some innate quality that makes us a "master race?"
