JUDAISM
TAKING AN AXE TO JEWISH VALUES
If we Jews are “the chosen people,” I doubt it was God’s purpose that an Israeli soldier in southern Lebanon smash a statue of Jesus with an axe. That horrific act happened in the beginning of the week. A “stunned and saddened” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately stated that action would be taken. A day…
Read MoreBASEBALL, PASSOVER, AND IRAN
Baseball, Passover and the war with Iran have a connection. The national pastime represents an ordered world. Games end in a recognized win or loss. The standings clearly position each team. Simple. Passover: not so simple. God freed the Israelites from Egypt. But the waters—during and after Pharaoh drowned in the Sea of Reeds—muddied quickly.…
Read MoreABUSING THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
A 15-foot, gold-plated statue of Donald Trump—a $300,000 “grift” from cryptocurrency investors—challenges the Christian champion’s supposed respect for the Ten Commandments. Tuesday’s New York Times reported: “Don Colossus” awaits installation on Donald Trump’s golf complex in Doral, Florida. “Pastor Mark Burns, one of the organizers of the effort and a friend of Mr. Trump’s, told his…
Read MoreHAPPY CHANUKAH? DAMN RIGHT!
After last Sunday’s ISIS-inspired shootings at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, two non-Jewish friends asked if it was okay to wish me “Happy Chanukah.” The title of this post gives you my answer. When the Jewish world lost fifteen souls with dozens more wounded, I was shocked but not surprised. Why? Jews around the world…
Read MoreMY CHANUKAH WISH LIST
Don’t think me greedy, but I have a long wish list for Chanukah presents, and I want everything. Chanukah is the Jewish “Festival of Lights.” The eight-night (and day) holiday begins on the 25th of the month of Kislev which, in the lunar-solar calendar, falls anywhere between late November and the end of December. Chanukah…
Read MoreANTISEMITES “PROTECTING” JEWS
The Trump administration boasts about protecting American Jews from antisemitism and anti-Israel attacks. The truth is just the opposite. Jews have been called “the canary in the coal mine.” Attacks on Jews warn that a society is giving way to ethnic autocracy. Other minorities soon will be assaulted. This canary smells the scent emanating from…
Read MorePLATO, COMICS AND COMPETING AMERICAN VISIONS
The Greek philosopher Plato and several comic-strip characters can tell us where America should be going. Plato wrote of numina and phenomena. Numina represent the ideal. Phenomena attempt to express the ideal in physical or other form. Plato used a chair as an example. The ideal chair can’t be seen. Real chairs, whatever their design, are attempts to…
Read MorePASSOVER—A TWO-EDGED SWORD
Shabbat ends tomorrow (Saturday) night and Passover begins. The weeklong holiday will bring both joy and distress. Passover commemorates the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt and slavery (though not of the Black American sort). What’s more, Pharaoh ordered the deaths of newborn Israelite boys. The story is familiar to most Americans, though not all. Several years…
Read MoreMILLIONS OF MOVING PARTS
I’ve written that the only logical conclusion to the Israel-Hamas war is moving towards a two-state solution. Now, let me clarify that. “Moving towards” does not mean Israel acknowledging Palestinian statehood now. Canada considered recognizing a Palestinian state but decided against. Reality intruded. The subject also has been broached by several European leaders. But Gaza is run…
Read MoreA WALK IN THE PARK
I never get writers’ block, but this week I came close. I start thinking about the next post six or seven days ahead of the Friday on which it appears. Sometimes, I develop more than one idea. Last Tuesday, I was still drawing a blank. One of the best techniques I know for freeing the…
Read MoreREFORM JEWS AT A CROSSROADS
Following October 7, the Israel-Hamas war kicked up a small storm in Reform Judaism. My synagogue, Congregation Sherith Israel, has not been immune. I begin with a January 1 column in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper by Daniel Weiner, senior rabbi of Seattle’s Temple De Hirsch Sinai: “What We Reform Jews Forgot to Teach Our Children.” (Daniel Weiner is…
Read MoreAGING AND MAKING SPACE
The American adoration of the rugged, hence isolated, individual becomes most unhelpful as people age. Installing a new Apple TV device offers a prime example. Many elders refuse assistance. Let their children or grandchildren—or professionals—help them get along? That stands as an admission that independence is waning, that they’ll soon be removed from their home…
Read MoreCHANUKAH AND HAMAS
Sundown tonight marks the end of the eight-day Festival of Lights—Chanukah. However, the story we’ve again told usually remains incomplete because we ignore the related law of unintended consequences. Israel should take note. And Hamas. Around 164 BCE, traditional Jews defeated their Seleucid Greek overlords and also Jewish Hellenizers. The winners cleaned and rededicated (the…
Read MoreGENOCIDE AND CONTEXT
Today’s first day of Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, arrives during a period of more than seasonal darkness. Israel continues to face the threat of Hamas (and Hezbollah) violence, a war rages in Gaza, and Jews across the globe, including the United States, contend with rising antisemitism. Of note, Jewish college students who support Israel…
Read MoreVIOLENCE AND CHOICE
In 1992, Rodney King, a Black man viciously beaten by Los Angeles police a year earlier, asked during violent riots, “Can’t we all get along?” Last week’s Torah portion, “Genesis,” and this week’s, “Noah,” address this sorry aspect of human nature. Gen. 1:26 states: “And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after…
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