My friend Dr. Marty Lee passed away on Shushan Purim, here in Jerusalem. Given the Jerusalem custom that because of the holiness of the city funeral are always conducted the same day, and it was a holiday and Erev Shabbat, Marty was buried three hours after we met with the Chevre Kadisha (Burial Society)...
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Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and I were all born in 1955 (in fact Bill Gates and I were born on the exact same day). All three of us dropped out of school (I beat them to the punch and dropped out of high school; they didn’t drop out until college!). All three of us...
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Why do we have commemorations of 9/11? Clearly, there are many reasons. To honor the dead. To reflect on the impact that horrendous day has had on all of our lives. To remind us of the struggle we are in against the forces of evil. Honoring the dead is clearly the major reason. There...
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At 7:00am California time on September 11, 2001, I was at home in Los Angeles, still in bed, when the phone rang. It was my mother, calling from Denver: “turn on your television, something terrible is happening in New York” were all the words she could choke out. Confused, we got up, turned on...
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Almost every day for the last 11 months I have attended services with a minyan (prayer quorom) and said the Kaddish memorial prayer in honor of my mother, Maria, who passed away last year on the holiday of Sukkot. I’ve gone to services when I was running late and rushing, and just managed...
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Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in its fruit; But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest to the land, a sabbath for the Lord; you shall not sow your field, nor prune your vineyard. …Leviticus 25:3-4 And you shall hallow...
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