Ever since I can remember, I have been in a relationship with God. Despite growing up in a family of agnostics, I always believed in, and even felt, the presence of God in my world. My idea of God as a child was that of a Biblical God – all-knowing, omnipotent, father-like, and ubiquitous. God […]
Filling the Hands of Leaders
March 2, 2014 by
Most of us, if we think of ourselves as Jews, inevitably ask this question: What accounts for the phenomenal survival and success of the Jewish people? [whohit]Filling the Hands of Leaders[/whohit] By all logic we should have disappeared long ago, as did dozens of other ancient civilizations and nations. The Greeks and Romans, with all […]
Florida’s Boca Raton Resort and Club
is like fine wine (especially on Passover)
February 28, 2014 by
[whohit]Florida’s Boca Raton Resort and Club[/whohit] One of the linguistic curiosities in the names of some American cities is the startling cleavage between the meaning and reality of those names. A case in point: Boca Raton, in the original Spanish, means “rat’s mouth” a designation which the Spanish explorers gave to the indentation on the […]
Florida’s Sun, Sand and The Arts
February 26, 2014 by
[whohit]South Florida’s flourishing arts scene[/whohit] South Florida’s flourishing arts scene, and its growing potential as a meeting place for singles, is now drawing more than just snowbirds in the winter. The numerous theaters, concert venues, exhibits, festivals and fairs of all sorts are attracting visitors of every age. Among the singles groups in South Florida […]
Why Israel Will Miss Ariel Sharon
January 17, 2014 by
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”
January 2, 2014 by
“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 […]
A New Peace Plan For Israel
And The Palestinians
January 2, 2014 by
My wife and I are in preparations for a trip to Israel, the Holy Land, Eretz Yisroel. It will be the 4th time in a year and a half, because we are parents, grandparents and great-grandparents of family in Israel, and because, as long as we can, we want to be at every simcha. Did we […]
Shevat – A Month Of Renewal – Kabbalah of the Month
December 30, 2013 by
This new month of Shevat beginning sunset on January 1, 2014 is pregnant with new possibilities. Some of us may have lived through a cold and challenging winter this year in our lives, but spring is coming. Be patient and never lose hope. The first part of the month of Shevat may still feel energetically […]
Shipley Speaks – What is A Green Grocer?
December 27, 2013 by
There are words, expressions and entire languages that rise, spread and then seem to just disappear. Today it would seem even the e-mail is going out of style, replaced by texting which replaces words with single letters (You = U). This is not a judgment, just a statement of fact. Remember when you sent a […]
Judah ben Teima used to say:
At 5 years Old A Person Should Study The Scriptures
December 27, 2013 by
Pirke Avot 5:24 – Judah ben Teima used to say: At five years old a person should study the Scriptures, at ten years for the Mishnah, at thirteen for the commandments, at fifteen for the Talmud, at eighteen for the bridechamber, at twenty for one’s life pursuit, at thirty for authority, at forty for discernment, […]
