As originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post on October 12, 2024. “Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holy of holies of Jewish time. It is that rarest of phenomena, a Jewish festival without food. Instead, it is a day of fasting and prayer, introspection and self-judgment when, collectively and repeatedly, we confess our […]
As originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post on September 27, 2024. “If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years.” -Bertrand Russell This week we read a double Torah portion […]
As originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post on September 20, 2024. “No one asked me to be an actor, so no one owed me. There was no entitlement.” -James Earl Jones As you may have figured out by regularly reading this column, aside from liking to embarrass my children, I like to bring stories of […]
As originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post on September 13th, 2024. “We stand our best chance of leaving a legacy to those who want to learn, our children, by standing firm. In matters of style, hey, swing with the stream. But in matters of principle, you need to stand like a rock.” Kevin Costner This […]
As originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post on September 5, 2024. The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life, and the procedure, the process, is its own […]
As originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post on September 1, 2024. Research shows that there is only half as much variation in student achievement between schools as there is among classrooms in the same school. If you want your child to get the best education possible, it is actually more important to get him assigned […]
As originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post on August 23, 2024. In this week’s Torah portion it says, “The One Who feeds you manna in the desert…in order to test you. (Devarim 8:16) The commentators all ask the obvious question as to what the test is. According to the Sforno the test is to see […]
As originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post on August 16, 2024. When planning your wedding you make so many decisions: ‘Do I want this fork or that fork?’ But in the end people aren’t going to remember what napkin holder you choose. -Lara Stone A few days ago, I was sitting around the living room […]
As originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post on August 9, 2024. “The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then they get elected and prove it.” -P. J. O’Rourke 3 times […]
As originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post on August 2, 2024. If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free; if our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed. Edmund Burke I often complain to my friends, that in Jewish education, very little attention is paid to the interaction between everyday money dealings […]
