Fall was just beginning to turn the Moscow air crispy when the lot of us — 10 high school seniors and three faculty members of YULA Girls\’ School — trudged down the stairs of our Intourist Hotel in the late \’80s, and began our walk of several miles, not to the better-known Chabad Lubavitch Synagogue or to the Moscow Choral Synagogue, but to another shul in the city\’s nort
\”Judges and officers shall you appoint in all of your cities.\”
This divine commandment to establish a judicial system serves as the basis of all Western law; a fair system affording protection to each of its citizens and guests.
Though this is a communal responsibility, it is stated in the singular, lecha. Why? Why is God talking to each of us as individuals? What message lies in this portion dealing with judges for us, the non-judge community?
Society needs to feel there is an operative judicial system. Community, as we know it, can only run when there is a feeling of justice.
Gene Simmons, Bob Dylan, the Beastie Boys and Susanna Hoffs are proof positive that Jews know how to rock.
There are weeks when history is written, and there are weeks, like this past one, when it is rewritten.
Read any good Hebrew books lately?
If you live in the Valley — we\’ll assume you read Hebrew — you\’ll most likely have picked up the latest Ram Oren techno-thriller or Naomi Ragen frummie-potboiler at the recently opened Steimatzky bookstore on Ventura Boulevard near Corbin.
Reading Is Fundamental
It\’s accepted wisdom that when children read, they develop wider vocabularies, score higher on intelligence tests and display more enthusiasm to pursue higher education. But many children don\’t have access to books, even at school.
\”King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel\” by Jonathan Kirsch (Ballantine Books, $28)
In his \”Reading the Book: Making the Bible a Timeless Text,\” Rabbi Burton Visotzky writes, \”To the extent that the Bible reveals the words of God to a community, it is essential that students get those words down right, so that they may become part of the community. In certain communities, students of the Bible are free to question, grapple, doubt and deny — so long as they first hear their community\’s reading of God\’s word.\”
\”Pay me to read? That would be awesome,\” my son Jeremy says.
Not only is he perpetually in debt, but he was also faced with a formidable list of books to read before beginning sixth grade at Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School in Northridge on Sept. 5.
\”But it would be wrong,\” he immediately adds.
Unworthiness is not a quality that carries positive connotations. It\’s usually thought of as a state to be overcome, or a situation to be avoided. Perhaps, though, it has a redeeming feature. Perhaps feelings of unworthiness should actually be reveled in and appreciated — at least sometimes.
Children often are pestered by well-meaning adults. I remember as a child having my cheeks pinched, or, even worse, my ear lobe pulled by some sweet elderly lady. Recounting this experience at one of my evening classes, one student seriously asked me, \”Rabbi, did she pull down or pull up?\”
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