People often complain that if we only had leaders like those in past generations, we would not have the problems we face today. It seems to be a chronic malady that we never are satisfied with the leaders of our own time. Yet, an old Jewish adage states, \”each generation receives the leader it deserves.\” In truth, nowhere is this fact so apparent as in this week\’s Torah reading.
Teen-age girls always have a strange relationship with food. When I was her age, I ate only peanut butter or salami.
Close to half the Reform temples in Alabama are named \”Emanuel,\” which is Hebrew for \”God is with us.\” Jews all over the state are hoping it proves true this fall, when voters pick a governor.
Benjamin Gampel, a historian at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, speaks enthusiastically about his Wexner students: \”The Wexner Program is probably the best adult teaching that I can do. They\’re highly motivated; they\’re so successful in their chosen fields, they bring that energy to the classroom. It\’s thrilling.\”
A couple of months ago, Dov Dribben, age 28, was clubbed and shot to death by Palestinian Arabs on a tract of Israeli \”government land\” attached to the West Bank settlement of Maon, about 40 miles south of Jerusalem.
If the pursuit of peace in the Middle East will not unite the parties concerned, then one life-sustaining element may. Israeli, Arab and American researchers and engineers have come together to find ways to produce more potable water for agricultural use, as demands for supplies of Middle Eastern and Californian freshwater continue to increase.
A new sophisticated computer database may help theheirs of Holocaust victims receive the benefits of insurance policiestaken out by long-deceased relatives.
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