How can you know who someone really is? In what way can we get real insight into the strength of one’s character? Using a pithy alliteration, the Talmud gives us some advice on how to see beyond a person’s façade (including our own) and discover what an individual truly is all about: “In three ways a person’s …
Women love flowers and on Shavuos we go all out with flowers. Is that where the similarity ends?
Shabbos HaGadol – the Great Shabbos. It was on this Shabbos , about 3300 years ago, that G-d commanded the Jewish people to take a sheep, the Egyptian deity, and tie it to their bedpost in preparation for slaughtering it as a Passover offering four days later. Although the Egyptian people were quite taken aback, …
“That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.” These now-famous words were uttered on July 20, 1969 in front of millions of TV viewers and an estimated 450 million radio listeners worldwide, when US astronaut Neil Armstrong took man’s first footsteps on the moon. This was the culmination of an intense and …
This year, the recently completed festivals, always a time of joy, were even more joyous than usual. Why? Because he’s home. Gilad Shalit is home. Everyone’s son, everyone’s brother, is finally home. Home to his immediate family, and home to his extended family — all of Kelal Yisrael, the entire Jewish people. People from all …
Go ahead, ask someone. Ask what comes to mind when contemplating the holiday of Yom Kippur. For starters, many will probably question, “What kind of holiday is this?” A fast day, most certainly! A holy, spiritual day, yes. But a holiday? No way!” Holidays are about eating delicious meals with family and friends, getting together and enjoying …
Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. (“The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, mounted on the Statue of Liberty). We all yearn to breathe free, to be free. But do we really know what freedom means? Ask somebody the meaning of freedom and you will usually get an answer …