Cartago Delenda EstCarthage Must be Destroyed The famous quote, at least famous to those who spent time in AP European History, was spoken by Cato the Elder in the 2nd Century BCE during a debate in the Roman Senate prior to the Third Punic War. Following that pronouncement, the Carthaginians led by Hannibal’s grandson Hasdrubal...
In the cavalcade of six Bat/Bar Mitzvahs that dot the calendar over the next eight weeks, we begin with the Fishelbergs, one of the finest families to come out of Middlesex County, New Jersey. While the Jewish history of the Garden State could fill several volumes, our tribesmen’s relationship to the Fishelberg Family favorite, the...
“To be free, we must let go of hate.”-Rabbi Jonathan Sacks zt”l In his 22 years as Chief Rabbi and until he died of cancer in 2020, Jonathan Sacks completely changed the global landscape with his uniquely inspirational, thought-provoking discourse that gave a Jewish response to contemporary issues without compromising religious ideals. Far from arguing...
What’s more Jewish? A Family-Owned Union Shop or Private Equity? In the late 19th/early 20th century, Jewish representation in organized labor was a given. Organizations like the Bund with origins in Europe or others like the Workmen’s Circle, United Hebrew Trades and the Jewish Labor Committee founded by European Jews in America focused their efforts...
As we set the tables and make final preparations, there is only one last borderline esoteric ritual left for Jewish communities throughout the world. Figure out how to get firstborn sons from having to fast the morning before Passover starts. Let’s back up. Among the minor fasts spread throughout the year including one before Purim...
Chametz. Leaven. Food containing one of the five species of grain (wheat, spelt, barley, oats, rye) that is mixed with water and left to rise for more than 18 minutes. Chametz’s antithesis of course is matzah, namely non-leavened food made from those same five species of grain mixed with water but left to rise for...
The Bank of United States. No, not Bank of America. No, also not Alexander Hamilton’s First or Second Bank of the United States for our AP American History scholars. The grammatically problematic but very real The Bank of United States got its start in 1913 and failed spectacularly 18 years later ushering in a series...
***If you have photos/video from the Purim party especially of the spontaneous dancing circle, please reply to this e-mail*** 12 years ago this Shabbat, a devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster rocked Tōhoku and Japan in an event whose fear and destruction became so deeply ingrained in the culture that its commemoration is marked simply...
׃A Benjaminite ran from the battlefield and reached Shiloh the same day; his clothes were rent and there was earth on his head.-Samuel 1 4:12 500 years before Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens, an unnamed man from the Tribe of Benjamin trekked 42km from the battlefield at Eben Ezer/Rosh Ha’ayin to Eli the Prophet...
100 years ago this week, the Jewish Community of Nagasaki put their building up for sale. For us in Tokyo and the even earlier Jewish Community of Kobe, Japan’s original Jewish community in Nagasaki is viewed mostly as an esoteric oddity, a historical anomaly. Who were these Jews of Kyushu? Did they debate over which...