(click here for print version) Dedicated to the memory of those Israeli soldiers whose selfless sacrifice gave and gives us a State we can call our own, including:  My cousin Major Benji Hillman z"l  of blessed memory , a Company Commander in the elite Egoz unit of Golani, killed just three weeks after his wedding, in the summer of 2006, in … [Read more...]

(click here for print version) Passover - In the Name of Love Passover commemorates the miraculous exodus of the Jews from Egypt. After 210 years of oppression and cruel servitude, an entire people leave in astounding record time, faster than it takes dough to leaven into bread. We celebrate this event with a festive meal and ceremony called … [Read more...]

(click here for print version) There are moments in time one needs to forget. And yet, so often, these same moments, we really need to remember. Such a moment came into my life on August 9th (the twentieth of Av) 2001. An innocent, beautiful afternoon in the heart of Jerusalem surrounded by the music of children's laughter. Lives full of … [Read more...]

(click here for print version) Purim: Secrets Behind the Purim Mask Purim celebrates the salvation of the Jews from the wicked Haman's scheme to exterminate all the Jewish men, women, and children living in thePersian empirein the year 357 B.C.E., which essentially meant all the Jews in the world. Some of the commandments of Purim, such as … [Read more...]

(click here for print version) Yom Kippur was over, and with the festival of Sukkot around the corner, I realized I had no way to get a set of four species in time for the festival. Traditionally, every day of Sukkot (The Festival of the Booths, or the Feast of Tabernacles), one gathers the four species mentioned in the bible (The Etrog or … [Read more...]

(click here for print version) Yom Kippur: The Fast Track to Love and Forgiveness Yom Kippur is all about love and forgiveness. It's about how we are always inseparably one with G-d. On Yom Kippur we get a glimpse of ourselves, our choices and our relationship to G-d from another perspective — G-d's perspective. This is the … [Read more...]

(click here for print version) The thundering sounds of artillery fire echoed through the valleys beneath the Golan Heights and across the Sea of Galilee. All across the Northern border with Syria, civilians were huddled in their bunkers and bomb shelters, wondering when this latest round of violence would abate. On the face of it, this was … [Read more...]

(click here for print version) Who is G-d to Judge? How to Celebrate a Day of Judgment I did not grow up in a religious home but we did go to shul (synagogue) every Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I remember one Rosh Hashanah the rabbi got up and said, “We’re about to open the ark. It is customary for the congregation to stand while the … [Read more...]