DEDICATED IN LOVING MEMORY OF ISAAC GAMEL ז''ל BY HIS FAMILY
Drinking on Purim
Dear Friends: I hope this letter finds you all well and looking forward to the beautiful Yom Tov of Purim. I address this letter to all of you, and especially to parents of teenagers. One of the unusual aspects of Purim is the celebration of the day through drinking...
Exploring the Continued Impact of Technology, Part 3
Technology and Your Children[1] Our children are growing up in a very different world than their parents. They are “digital natives”, born into a world with radically changed norms of communication, study and recreation, where they and their contemporaries are more...
Exploring the Continued Impact of Technology, Part 2
Technology & Your Relationships: Overcoming Connectivity to Connect[1] Relationships have been changed forever. Technology has had a profound impact on relationships between friends, family and spouses. It has allowed for ease and frequency of communication...
Exploring the Continued Impact of Technology, Part I
Technology & You: Stopping the Unstoppable[1] It just never stops. How many times while writing this article will I be interrupted by a text, a call or an email? How many times will you be similarly interrupted while reading it? All hours of day and night we hear...
Four Core Jewish Values at the End of Life
Health care decisions have grown increasingly complex with the advancement of medicine, and are influenced by the values of those involved. Halacha has much to say about these issues, and it serves as the single source for Jewish Medical Ethics. As is always the case,...
Chanukah, Brotherhood & Community
As a community, we have been shaken by a series of recent tragic losses and challenges experienced by individuals and families within our community. We are unsettled, and we wonder what it all means and which steps we might consider in response. Yet now, on Chanukah,...
Chanukah and the War of the Kohanim
Chanukah and Purim are seen as celebrating two different kinds of experiences for the Jewish People. In the story of Purim we were threatened with physical annihilation, while the Greeks posed primarily a spiritual threat. Thus in the Al HaNissim thanksgiving prayer...
Jewish Foreign Policy: A Test Case
Vayishlach Jewish Foreign Policy: A Test Case Applying the wisdom of Torah to contemporary challenges is never simple; it is however exceptionally challenging when it comes to Jewish foreign affairs. Our Sages taught us that Parshas Vayishlach contains the template...
Lord Balfour, Rav Kook and The Torah
Lord Balfour, Rav Kook and the Torah As UNESCO was busy passing its second resolution in a month denying the Jewish origins of the Temple Mount (Har HaBayit), the Jewish people were preparing for the Succos festival and decorating their Succos with beautiful and...
Towards a Better Life- The Radiance of the Kohen Gadol
Yizkor A few weeks ago I was in Israel, trying to be helpful to my father, who was in the hospital. On Sunday morning I took a brief stroll to the hospital’s small shul, and noticed a Sefer, a book that I had never seen before, a new collection of Torah thoughts from...