JUDAISM
YOU’RE WELCOME
Periodically, a Muslim shares in the media a particularly wonderful bit of wisdom. So it was last week. Yet the speaker or writer always seems to remain unaware of that wisdom’s source. It’s borrowed from Judaism. Such recognition might help to eliminate the hatred that many Muslims exhibit towards Jews. The Quran (Sura 5:32) states:…
Read MoreINSULT TO HUMANITY
David Brooks, the New York Times columnist, offers fascinating insights into the workings of the human mind in his book, The Social Animal. Brooks points to how we often judge people in milliseconds based on stimuli recognized only the subconscious. I had that experienced with a recent photo in the San Francisco Chronicle. I immediately…
Read MoreTHE ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT
From time to time, the leader of a Torah study session or Shabbat services will ask the group to come up with an Eleventh Commandment. (The Ten Commandments Moses received on Mount Sinai are well known but often misunderstood.) One of the earliest of these Eleventh Commandments was Holocaust survivor Emil Fackenheim’s instruction to survive…
Read MoreA TALE OF TWO COUNTRIES
Some people believe that outrage in the name of religion—or religious hatred—only happens “there.” Not quite. But along with the bad news, there’s also good news. In Cologne, Germany, a regional court banned circumcision for children stating that the procedure does bodily harm without consent. German Jews and Muslims—along with co-religionists worldwide—protested vociferously. For Jews,…
Read MoreMAKING WAY
My cousin Howard called me on Wednesday. It was great to catch up with him. Better yet, it was great that Howard is still here. He had a brain tumor. An operation and radiation have given him clean readings so far, and he’s pretty much back to normal. If, having had a tumor, life can…
Read MoreLONGING FOR GOD
I once read a story about the Holocaust, which may or may not be apocryphal. Not that it matters. Nothing—as well as everything—about the Holocaust is impossible to believe. What’s important is that the story’s conclusion tells us a great deal about humanity’s longing for God. One afternoon, a group of Jewish prisoners engages in…
Read MoreO JERUSALEM!
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand wither… —Psalms 137:5 Jerusalem’s place in the Jewish heart has been established for nearly three thousand years. So stating that modern-day Israel can and should live without part of Jerusalem is not easy. But it’s necessary. The Palestinians have long demanded that East Jerusalem—in…
Read MoreINVISIBLE
What if you looked in a mirror but couldn’t see yourself? That’s standard for Dracula. Also for Jews. We’re recognizable as one of the nation’s most accomplished ethnic groups and yet so easy to overlook. Three recent experiences illustrate what I mean. The April 9 issue of Newsweek featured a cover-story headline bristling with imperatives…
Read MoreDIRTY LAUNDRY
You don’t really need to find out what’s going on You don’t really want to know just how far it’s gone Just leave well enough alone, keep your dirty laundry “Dirty Laundry” by Don Henley, released 1982 In today’s San Francisco Chronicle, Chip Johnson asks why so many Oaklanders focus on the killing of a…
Read MoreTHE BAD IMPULSE
The murder of sixteen Afghan civilians allegedly by Staff Sergeant Robert Bales has set many Americans to soul searching. The killings were in themselves terrible. They also have caused serious deterioration in the tenuous U.S.-Afghan relationship. But even more is involved concerning something each of us must fear about ourselves. Family and friends portray Bales—now…
Read MorePURIM AGAIN… AND AGAIN
Yesterday (beginning Wednesday evening) Jews celebrated Purim. We read the Book of Esther, which presents a great threat to the Jews of ancient Persia. So what’s changed? According to the megillah (scroll/story), Haman, King Ahasuerus’s top counselor, responds negatively to the Jewish Mordecai’s refusal to bow to him. “Accordingly, written instructions were dispatched by couriers…
Read MoreBATTER UP AND THE GOLDEN CALF
Spring training is on with baseball’s exhibition games starting. And next week’s Torah portion (Ki Tissa, Exodus 30:11–34:35) tells the story of the Golden Calf. There’s a relationship here. Let’s start with Torah. The Israelites, worried that Moses remains on Mount Sinai for forty days and nights, ask his brother Aaron to make a god…
Read MoreSWEET HOME ALABAMA
Jerusalem and Birmingham, Alabama constitute two very different and distant cities. But given the elephant in the political room—the issue that presidential candidates and the incumbent government prefer to avoid—they’re a lot closer than you think. This week’s Newsweek (2-13-12) includes an article on Alabama’s recent immigration law. While H.B. 56 meets Alabamians’ needs for…
Read MoreFOCUS ON WHOSE FAMILY?
I saw a TV commercial last week featuring small children quoting and commenting on John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have life eternal.” Now, I have no brief with people of any religion expressing their faith.…
Read MoreREPENT EACH DAY
In the Mishnah, Rabbi Eliezer advises us to “Return [to God] one day before you die. (Pirke Avot 2:10).” But none of us knows the day of our death. Thus we should repent daily. My friend Bruce’s friend’s father died last Friday at 72—five years older than me. He was healthy, active and vital. The…
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