Archive for June, 2011

This week’s Torah reading, Korach, starts out with Korach and his band of followers challenging the leadership of Moses, saying “Aren’t we all holy?  Weren’t we all at Sinai? What makes you so special?”   It’s a very troubling story, both for what Korach did — seeking his own glory — and for what...
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And the Lord said to Moses, How long will this people provoke me? And how long will it be before they believe me, for all the signs which I have shown among them?   …Numbers 14:11 It’s pretty rare to see God seem to get something wrong.  Maybe it’s why God gave us free will;...
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I’m a pretty macho guy.  I’m a black belt, flight instructor, SCUBA Divemaster.  My father and grandfather were both cops, and we had “macho values” at home like “boys don’t cry.” “I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey on the Road to Peace” made me cry.  I have trouble imagining someone who could...
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  Early Tuesday morning extremist settlers set a mosque on fire in the West Bank town of Mughayar.  Graffiti they left at the site explictly said it was a “price tag” for the Israeli government’s evacuation of the illegal outpost of Alei Ayin.  You can read more about the incident here. I visited the...
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 It’s now 49 days and 20 hours of the omer…Shavuot will be here in a few hours. The time count is appropriate because we’ve been counting for the last seven weeks already…counting the days until we reach tonight.  Seven weeks ago we celebrated Passover and spiritually left behind “Mitzrayim,” our narrow place, and started...
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  I realize my last post about Yom Yerushalayim comes across like one big “kvetch.”  It might lead a reader to wonder, “so why live in such a crazy place?” The truth is, the things I love about living in Jerusalem far outweigh the things that bug me.  I suppose I had to kvetch...
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