Thus shall you bless the children of Israel, it is to be said to them: May G-d bless you and keep you, May G-d shine His face upon you and be gracious to you, May G-d turn His face to you and grant you peace.

For centuries, anti-Semitism was fueled by a belief that G-d had abandoned His people, that the promises that had been listed specifically in the Bible for the Jewish people were no longer relevant.  Medieval Christian theologies were based on this premise.  But it is the clear statement in verse 44 that belies this idea, for G-d explicitly states that, despite exile and deserved punishment, G-d will never break His covenant with us.

I spoke to Nomi Teplow the other night and it gave me a little twinge in my heart when I realized it was Sunday night and the women’s choir was assembling in her living room.  And I wasn’t there…  The past two years I stopped going to choir practice when life got a little too […]

The child of a mixed marriage between a Jew and a non-Jew will always be confused, will lack a clear identity and will have trouble relating to God.

  My friend and neighbor, Lenny, is back at work this week after taking off for the week-long Passover holiday.  Lenny is the creator, owner, manager and chief baker for his bakery, here in Karnei Shomron, and Passover, with its strict and inherent prohibitions against eating leavened bread, gives him a forced vacation!  But during […]

Today is the day after Passover and everything goes back to normal.  Last night we were up late washing and drying dishes, putting away the Passover dishes and taking out the regular dishes, stripping the beds from the company that stayed with us for the holiday, and starting on the mounds of laundry that always […]

Coming of age. Rites of passage. This brings to mind images of a boy in a loincloth, holding a sword in one hand and a sack of grain in the other, going off into the woods to kill his first bear. Or someone breaking out a bottle of bubbling champagne and drinking to a young […]

Prime Minister Netanyahu just completed a very important visit to the US.  He addressed AIPAC, the important pro-Israel lobby organization, and met with President Obama.  Commentators have seen Obama’s speech at AIPAC as very pro-Israel, although some have questioned whether that was a function of pre-election strategy.  But the overriding issue of this visit was […]

Tomorrow is Tu B’Shvat, the annual holiday of trees.  Although this day was well known in Jewish sources for centuries, since the beginning of the 20th century, when Jews began returning to the Land of Israel in large numbers, this day took on greater significance.  The early Zionist pioneers found a desolate land, with a […]