Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmetic in Retrospect, Part I: Introduction
An Analysis of the Clashes Between Judaic and Secular Studies in the Jewish Day School ...
My End-of-Summer visit to Valmadonna at Sotheby's by Menachem Butler
[Note: I highly recommend watching the Sotheby's video about the exhibit ~DW] Several months ago I mentioned at the Michtavim blog about the Valmadonna Trust Library, its custodian, Mr Jack Lunzer of London, and the entire collection that was on display at the Sotheby's NY for a single week in February. The collection is currently available for sale en bloc and let me know if you or a consortium of friends are interested ...
An Olah Without a Parachute XII
There is a war going on in our country. Fathers, brothers, sons, cousins and friends are leaving their families to go fight this war. The people left behind remain worried, nervous and on edge. They brace for the worst and pray for the best. Wars are different when your life is touched by it - when you know the soldiers fighting. In Jerusalem, our lives are not affected physically by what's going on, at least ...
James Bond, Jabotinsky and the Holocaust
By Guest author Moshe Phillips A new motion picture in which James Bond fights Nazis and saves Jews during the Holocaust is scheduled for release this Chanukah season. Well, not exactly. Daniel Craig is the British actor who stars in the new blockbuster James Bond movie Quantum of Solace. Craig will play another character in 2008 and unlike Bond, this character is based on a real life hero. Craig plays Tuvia Bielski in the movie ...
Art Show at the Museum of the Underground Prisoners
Just when you think you’ve seen all that Jerusalem has to offer, along comes a surprise in the most unusual of spaces. For weeks, the Jerusalem municipality has been running full-page ads promoting Art Jerusalem 08, an exhibition with hundreds of mostly new and unknown artists. The setting was the Underground Prisoner's Museum, just off Kikar Safra (City Hall Plaza) in the Russian Compound neighborhood. The fair was fabulous, ranging from under appreciated impressionists like ...
Soapbox Hobo 2: Gambling with Sevens
There was a poem someone might have meant to write that could have gone like this: “It'll be 21 years from when I wrote this song/Maybe 22 -we won't be 'round long/As time hurries on/That which was green turned to brown.” 21 is an interesting number as it is 3 times 7, both of which are very important numbers in Jewish thought. Without going into the background on the numbers now, some thoughts to ponder. You ...
An Olah Without A Parachute: My Aliyah Adventure viii
An Arab terrorist decided to drive his car into a group of soldiers tonight. I had been close to that location earlier tonight. Although, I probably wouldn't have been at the specific spot; I can't help but think what would have happened if I was. Why can't they stop? I feel such a deep sadness for people who have no other reason to live than to take others' lives. I don't want to postulate but how ...
Seeking a Different Birthright Israel experience
Over the past decade over 100,000 Jews from around the world have participated on Taglit Birthright Israel's amazing 10-day trip. Each trip offers participants a unique experience to meet the people, taking in the culture, and seeing the beautiful land of Israel. Having been a counselor on the trip a few years ago, I can attest that all the above is true. However, what I found was that certain programs lack a certain something that I ...
Soapbox Hobo
You've probably seen him more often in TV, Movies and other visual media than you have on the street where he belongs. He's the guy with the sign that says: "The end is near!", "Kiss tomorrow goodbye!", "Earth is doomed!" and other optimistic cheerful things. Today, I dare to be the crazy guy. Hear me and hear me well. The end is a near. Forget what you thought you knew. Statistics regarding the ...
Haman's Cup Found Under 70 Year Old Briton's Bed
OK, that headline was just to grab your attention. I have no way of proving the Cup belonged to Haman from the Purim story in Megillath Esther (or from my 4th grade's modern adaptation of the biblical story), but one does wonder (or is it that one's imagination does wander?)..... Anyway, CNN.com reported yesterday that John Webber, the grandson of a British junk dealer by the name of ...
