Noach invokes juvenile fascination upon reading the pshat. But we are not children. And underneath whimsical images and happy songs exists grown-up information to which we must attend if we have any hope for hearing youthful voices in our future.
A three-foot dancing dreidel and a visiting Holocaust survivor recall the ageless tales from a fresh perspective, when PBS station KCET airs \”Chanukah Stories\” on Dec. 24 and 25.
The fish was the ugliest I had ever seen. I actually recoiled as my son proudly pointed him out in the aquarium. He loves fish.
I\’ve really done it now. A year ago I got engaged. I made good on that promise in late July, and we have been on a honeymoon ever since.
People generally think that a miracle must be a supernatural event. In truth, however, a miracle need not be supernatural, and a supernatural event may not necessarily be a miracle. These two concepts sometimes overlap, but they are not identical.
The events of Purim are clearly regarded as miraculous, yet the story unfolds quite logically, through very human emotions and very human actions.
Bubbie, my sweet grandmother, is a small woman, barely 5-feet tall. Her candelabra wasn\’t just a candleholder used for the Sabbath and Chanukah lights. It was a family symbol; a magnet that brought family and friends together.
Nes Gadol Hayah Sham.
We all agree that the letters on the sides of the dreidel stand for \”A Great Miracle Happened There.\” (In Israel, of course, the letters stand for Nes Gadol Hayah Po — \”A Great Miracle Happened Here.\”)
But — and this is why there\’s a book titled \”Two Jews, Three Opinions\” — what miracle are we talking about?
Some five miles outside of Amsterdam, there is a site where a miracle took place during the Holocaust.
Here, in this tiny town with quaint, pretty houses and narrow streets, the Nazis allowed Jewish history to survive. At a time when they were desecrating Jewish burial places all over Europe, they left this one alone.
Here\’s a riddle: What do leprosy and the State of Israel have in common? Hopefully, nothing leaps to your mind right away. I, however, needed to solve this riddle before I could begin to write this week\’s parasha column: For the week that we celebrate Israel\’s founding also happens to be the week that we read the Torah portion concerning lepers.
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