Why Israel Will Miss Ariel Sharon

JERUSALEM – I was privileged to know, appreciate, and befriend Ariel Sharon for both before and during the years he served as Israel’s 11th prime minister. He became, through the years, a dear friend. In today’s parlance, we were on each other’s “like list.” We frequently spoke on the phone. Whenever I visited Israel, or […]

Inside Llewyn Davis – (movie review)
“In Ways Normal To His Place”

“Folk song calls the native back to his roots and prepares him emotionally to dance, worship, work, fight, or make love in ways normal to his place.” Alan Lomax, Folk Songs of North America. Over sushi in Brooklyn the other night, I was asked to justify why we made the kids see Inside Llewyn Davis, the […]

Words Have a Life of Their Own – Maya Angelou

[whohit]Words Have. Life Of Thier Own – Maya Angelou[/whohit] Recently I watched a Master Class on the new Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) featuring author and poet Dr. Maya Angelou. These classes are one-hour television programs with interviews of celebrities and successful people who give lessons containing valuable advice. They offer words of wisdom from their […]

I Quickly Fell in Love with the Yeshiva

On Wed., March 30, my wife and I flew to New York. We are on the way to a wedding in Vancouver. My wife’s sister lives there, and her daughter is getting married.  To visit New York is always a very special occasion for Lubavitchers. World Lubavitch Headquarters is located at 770 Eastern Parkway in […]

What Does Freedom Mean To Me?

By Yosef Chincholker[whohit]What Does Freedom Mean To Me?[/whohit] Freedom means so much to U.S. citizens and is very important to us. We all need freedom so we can reach our full potential. Unfortunately, not everyone always has freedom and even today people still suffer from oppression. Just a few years ago, in the 1960s, people […]

Relationships Between Jews and Germans Today

By Miriam Zimmerman What happens when today’s Jews and Germans encounter each other face to face? What restraints cripple both parties in their attempts to communicate? Is there the proverbial elephant in the room that no one engages directly? Perhaps the different generations handle the awkwardness differently. What rights do contemporary Jews have to invoke […]

Moving Toward Vege-Veganism

By Mary Hofmann Eating Animals, by Jonathan SafranFoer, envisions a Passover without meatand provides compelling reasons why weshould consider moving toward becomingvegetarians/vegans in our scary newworld of factory “farming.” While Michael Pollan (Omnivore’sDilemma and Food Rules), Mark Bittman(Food Matters), Alan Weisman (The WorldWithout Us) and others aren’t as straightforwardin drawing parallels betweencurrent human behavior and […]

Rosh Hodesh: Finding strength one month at a time – by Amy Hirshberg Lederman

I listened to the phone message from Cindy and knew that something was wrong. I could hear it in her voice, even through the static on my answering machine. I called her back immediately and my worst fears were confirmed: Cindy had breast cancer We didn’t speak often because Cindy needed to conserve her energy […]

Chayat Hashavua: God’s wisdom in creating spiders

By Rabbi Moshe ben Asher, Ph.D. Do you know the Hebrew name for the spider? It’s akavish, but we don’t know anything about the root meaning of the word. Is there anything likeable about spiders? The rabbis 2,000 years ago thought that a crushed spider was a cure for a scorpion’s bite. I’m not sure […]

Variety of Interesting Stories – Sybil Kaplan

[whohit] Variety of Interesting Stories[/whohit] When we lived in Overland Park, I did my weekly shopping at the local supermarket, Price Chopper, or the one with the large kosher sections, Hen House, supplemented by the Wal-Mart neighborhood store. One of the stock items I bought was toilet paper most frequently four packs but sometimes more. […]

A new leadership recruiting poster

By Rabbi Moshe ben Asher, Ph.D. & Magidah Khulda bat Sarah [whohit]A new leadership recruiting poster[/whohit] For much of our professional lives, we worked as congregational and community organizers. We had an axiom in that work: “Whatever the problem, whatever the solution, do leadership development!” That maxim reflects an understanding that the current leadership is […]

Major vs. Minor fun

Hello again, Mr. Funsmith. First of all, how are you already? And before I forget, thanks for your insightful, dast I say, brilliant comments about that whole Fun IQ thing. Fun. Fun way to think about fun. Intelligent, even. So, I thought, since we’re corresponding already with such productivity, that I’d ask maybe if you […]

Updates on the current situation in Israel