Israel\’s Jews did not vote for Ariel Sharon by a margin nearly unprecedented in any functioning democracy because they believe he has a magic solution to halt the intifada.
Girl meets boy. Girl falls in love with boy. Girl stops returning her friend\’s phone calls. Girl\’s world narrows. Girl loses boy. Girl starts calling her friends again. Girl meets another boy.
There are two different ways of reminding us that Purim is around the corner. One is the PR method, involving newspaper ads, thousands of fliers and large street banners, usually advertising the upcoming Purim carnivals. The other involves no media or marketing but has existed for more than 2000 years. It\’s called Shabbat Zachor (the Sabbath of Remembering).
Tourism to Israel is slumping, but the country\’s national airline is betting $400 million on a liftoff.
Years ago I\’d heard from someone or read somewhere that Wyatt Earp is buried in Colma, near San Francisco, a bit of provocative trivia whose truth I\’d never been sure of. One day a while back I decided to check it out. I would have thought that one of the most famous figures in the history of the Old West would have ended up in the landscape of his legend. In the case of Wyatt Earp, this would mean Dodge City, Wichita, or more appropriately, Tombstone.
Legendary filmmaker Stanley Earl Kramer, best known for films such as the classic western \”High Noon,\” died on Feb. 19 of pneumonia. He was 87.
As told in the biblical Book of Esther, the Purim story recounts how Haman, the chief minister to King Ahasuerus, plotted to destroy the Jews of Persia. In Shushan, capital of Persia, Haman cast lots (purim) that fixed the date of the Jews\’ doom to 13 Adar.
Although I was raised Jewish, attended Hebrew school and became a bar mitzvah, my family was not particularly observant. At some point, my father — the grandson of Orthodox rabbis — became less and less involved in Jewish life, except during holidays and yahrtzeits.
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