Ancient Maror and an Antidote
A wise scholar once observed that the Talmud lacks a laugh track. You can’t tell when the Sages were joking. I thought this applied to the incantation for the “kappa,” the poisonously acrid sap of ancient lettuce, which the Sages used as bitter herb for their seders. Rabbi Chananel said it was a poisonous bug…
Moo, Say Cheese
We keep our dairy kitchen conspicuously kosher here at the Everett Jewish Life Center at Chautauqua, with a recognizable hechsher on all packaged food. The local markets have a limited range of kosher cheese (most of ours comes by courier from Cleveland) but Cabot cheese often has the shield-K, a symbol at which some people…
Grandma Got Committed
A photo from the Insane Asylum musem in Appleton, Wisconsin. In 1916, your loving family could commit you to the care of that institution, with restraints and cold bath treatments to alleviate your sad condition. Let’s not forget how people are judged “insane” and then treated, 100 years ago and today.
Off With the Yarmulke! Stop With the Mazeltov!
Sometimes it all comes together. I had a delicious poached pear yesterday and someone mentioned Augustine’s story about stealing pears. As a teenager, Augustine ran with a wild crowd and one day they stole pears, not because they wanted pears but just to steal. This reminded me of the story toward the end of Masechet…
The First Yiddishe Mamme?
Perhaps we’ll never know if accusations of conversion scandals are true, so you wouldn’t want to click this link. But it’s clear that the process of conversion has changed over time, and the Talmud has some interesting information on practices of former times. We have the stories of prospective converts who were rejected by Shammai but…
Afikomen on My Mind
I used to think that “afikomen” came from the Greek meaning something like “we went home” (first person plural aorist from ἀφικνεομαι), but it’s hard to be sure with Greek verbs since they are a tense and moody lot, and I was never entirely happy with my interpretation. This year I said to myself: Look,…
And Not One of Them Comes to Visit Me
Have you ever wondered about Adam’s relationship with his children. Abel was dead; Cain was on the move; and Seth was presumably at home. What about his grand-children? Adam lived 930 years, the Torah tells us, long enough to see eight generations of descendants, down to Lamech. Maybe Methuselah, Lamech’s dad, would sometimes tell his…
Ethnic Slur / Srul
After I outgrew my callow youthfulness I stopped laughing at ethnic jokes about Easterners saying Rimo for Limo (except funny ones, of course). When I learned a bit of Thai, I found that L and R are close, anyway. A Thai man ends a statement with “krap,” but on my tape it sometimes sounded like…
Bed Bugs: Pests for Creationism. Pests for Evolution.
Really? Bed bugs only feed on human blood? What a blow for Creationism. They would have starved, waiting for Adam to be ready to eat. Perhaps they evolved from an earlier mutation with a more varied diet, but can evolution be compatible with Creationism. What’s more, the Creationists I know of (from my one visit…
Israel’s Fires
I’m convinced, and I’ve changed everything. Since I started preparing Jewish prayer books, I noted that the phrase וְאִשֵּׁי יִשְׂרָאֵל had dropped out of Conservative liturgy. Most people understand the phrase as a reference to Israel’s sacrificial fires. If you don’t favor the restoration of the Temple sacrificial system, you might skip that phrase. But…
Israel’s Fires
I’m convinced, and I’ve changed everything. Since I started preparing Jewish prayer books, I noted that the phrase וְאִשֵּׁי יִשְׂרָאֵל had dropped out of Conservative liturgy. Most people understand the phrase as a reference to Israel’s sacrificial fires. If you don’t favor the restoration of the Temple sacrificial system, you might skip that phrase. But…
String Theory in the Talmud
Gerald Schroeder in Genesis and the Big Bang has uncovered Jewish traditions that support the Big Bang theory of modern physics. What about something a little more modern, string theory? Poor string theory. I think it’s been struggling since the Higgs Boson was pretty convincingly discovered in 2013. But we can find a little boost for it right…
In Memory of Victims of Terrorists
A few people asked me to write up my d’var Torah from yesterday (April 1, Shabbat Va’et’chanan), so here it is, to the best of my memory. I had a talk all written out, but late last night someone said, “I bet the Rabbi would have talked about what happened today.” She was referring to…
Watch Out for Those Immigrants
We had a week at Chautauqua listening to lectures on immigration, and on Shabbat we looked at all the times the Torah tells us to be nice to “strangers” or aliens. I came away wondering if the Thanksgiving tale is one of the reasons so many Americans are afraid of immigrants. I didn’t grow up…
Copper Snake
Did you read about the copper snake, or were you taking a nap during the Torah reading yesterday? The Israelites were grumbling, and God sent fiery snakes to bite them. Ouch. Then God told Moses to set up a copper snake on a pole; they could look up at it and be cured. Fast forward…
What about Me? Moses’ Poor Grammar
If you watch the new Exodus movie, you’ll probably cringe when Moses tells Pharaoh, “This has nothing to do with you and I.” What about me? Ignorant scriptwriters. Don’t they know the difference between “with I” and “with me”? But when you read through and think about the story of Moses, you can see that…
Connect the Dots?
… to be denied entrance to the Promised Land. Yeah, I know, he hit the rock. So what? When he remembers the incident, he tells the people it’s because of them that he doesn’t get to go into the land. It’s their fault he didn’t follow instructions? C’mon. He must have got crabby in his…
Remember The Journey
Well, if you want to talk about this week’s sedrah, here’s a thought. Not the second paragraph of the Shema. Not the injunction to eat and be satisfied. Something completely different. Earlier this week I attended the North America Interfaith Network annual conference. May I mention in passing that religion continues to evolve new forms,…
Sharing Jewish Tradition 