Imagine if your grandfather gave you something precious, a legacy from his father. Imagine as well, that before giving it to you, he asked each of your cousins if they wanted it. Almost immediately, each in turn informed your grandfather that they most certainly did not. When your grandfather turned …
Go to the homes of the murderers of the Fogel family. Of Ori Ansbacher. Ari Fuld. Koby Mandell, and so many others. That’s where the animals are, Ms Kotler.
We all have within us the power to declare ourselves or our lives as “pathetic” or to overcome each challenge and to find the blessing in it. Perhaps the first step in avoiding the tag of “pathetic” is to recognize that whatever your situation, there is always (and I mean …
Like many Jewish communities around the world, in death, my community mobilizes to help someone in mourning. Several people volunteer for this and handle it year-round. Plus, the community quickly jumps in to provide food for the mourning family. I’ve written about much of this already so now I’d like …
From January 10th to January 17, there were 34 terror attacks in Israel. In this latest update by Boomerang, you can learn what happened in the last few days and weeks. But there’s something even more special that they offer beyond the news. There are the people. One of the …
Last night, the candle I lit after my father’s funeral finally burned down. Grief is an unpredictable thing. Twice now, I’ve known that my responses are based more on grief than on logic. The first time was when discussing my father’s tombstone and what would be written there. Does it …
Tu b’Shevat is a holiday that really only makes sense in Israel. It’s considered the “new year’s day” of the trees. We have one, why shouldn’t they. And so, in honor of this wonderful yearly event, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released this amazing video of some of the agriculture technologies …
Is the world round or flat? Round would imply that everything is, ultimately, connected. At the same time, flat would imply that distance between locations and both physical and cultural. Maybe, the truth is somewhere in between. Did you know that you can measure “as the crow flies” distances on …
Last Thursday, my father passed away. He was buried on Sunday, and thus began the shiva, the 7 day mourning period. I sat with my mother and siblings for 2.5 days, feeling the call to come back to Maale Adumim, to a city and community that I love. Once I was …
It’s a picture of a young Parisian girl who is roughly 12 or 13 years old. She is standing by a chair in a schoolyard, wearing a nice dress. She has a lovely smile, light olive complexion and has thick just below the shoulder length brown, curly hair. On the back …
Ultimately, the hardest battles are not those we fight against our enemies – they never have been. Without question, the hardest ones we fight are often against those who mean the most to you and more, have good intentions. But if wrongs are being committed to make something right, it’s time to review and question whether in your dedication and desperation, that turn you took down the road leads you afar from the truth.
There just seem to be numbers that trigger responses automatically. Say six million and I guarantee you most people (certainly most Jews) will think about the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust. The truth is, the six million is only an estimate. It’s probably more. A lot more. Whole …
