Shemini Atzeret: The Holiday That Isn’t
Right in between Sukkot and Simchat Torah, sort of attached to both of them, is Shemini Atzeret, the 8th Assembly, or at least the 8th…
October 28, 2016
From the Cutting Room Floor
When a film is completed, usually there are entire scenes and out-takes left over. They are referred to as being left on the cutting room…
October 14, 2016
Sephardi Ways – Mizrachi Ways
When a child is growing up, he or she just assumes that how they are raised and what goes on in their home is how…
September 23, 2016
Sisterhood Then and On That Day
This Shabbat will be our very first Sisterhood Shabbat. We certainly hope that this will be the first of a great many such events. In…
September 9, 2016
I See – I Hear – What You Are Saying
I take enormous pleasure when I read a truly learned person writing what I have said before. Granted, they are almost always more erudite than…
August 26, 2016
Rio 2016 The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same
I cannot imagine that I am the only Jew watching the Olympics. Also, I cannot imagine that I am the only Jew keeping track of…
August 12, 2016
Lashon Harah: The Power of Words
Halpern’s Rule #5 – It Is All About the Words – is usually applied to the understanding of our Holy Scriptures. It is often too…
July 22, 2016
May His Soul Be Bound Up in the Bond of Eternal Life Rest in Peace – Elie Wiesel
This past week one of the Jewish community’s giants passed away-- Elie Wiesel: Shoah survivor, author, voice for all those who survived “The Kingdom of…
July 8, 2016
Halpern’s Rule #19 and Orlando
I am positively certain that Rabbi Benjamin Blech is totally unaware of Halpern’s Rules . . . or of Halpern, either, for that matter. However,…
June 24, 2016
Confirmation: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Not Quite Ours
A couple of years ago I attended a Catholic wedding, a Catholic funeral and Mass, all in a very short period of time. I noticed…
June 14, 2016