‘Maybe a double is also enough’
Alexander the Great conquered the world, but he was a terrible father, his son Alexander IV was executed at a young age; Nelson Mandela started a revolution in South Africa, but had a terrible...
View ArticleTo Forgive Divine
Jews spend a lot of time thinking about forgiveness once Rosh Hashanah rolls around. I assume it is mostly because of fear; after all, the ‘books of life and death are open’ before God shouldn’t we...
View ArticleHoshana Nefesh Mibehala (Life from Chaos)
I don’t dream; I sleep and think of nothingness, my brain mercifully shutting off. But then I wake up at 4 a.m. and I remind myself of our situation. The fear returns, the worry, the uneasiness. I try...
View Article‘I am Sick from the Suffering’
My heart is broken; how much loss can we endure. This week on one day we lost 21 soldiers – sons, husbands, fathers. It is so much to try to digest. Every day in Krakow, a place once bustling with...
View ArticleWhat does victory look like?
Jean Paul Sartre, a French philosopher of the 20th century has a frightening quote, which begins an article by a Dutch Colonel named E.A. de Landmeter, written for the Dutch military science journal...
View ArticleSociopaths, Empaths, and All of Us in Between
Empaths have a higher level of empathy than the average, enabling them to better understand others, and have a stronger connection to other people’s feelings or experiences. Some express that...
View ArticleThe Last Jew of Nowy Sącz
Around 10 years ago when I first arrived in Krakow I received an invitation from Anna Grygiel/Huryn, the last Jewish Polish citizen living in Nowy Sącz to come to the city and learn about its history,...
View ArticleThe Army of God
When I was a kid in Riverdale in the 70s and 80s I went to a modern Orthodox school (S.A.R) with the amazing Rabbi Fuld as the principal and went to a modern Orthodox shul as well (though the rabbi’s...
View ArticleComing Home: From the ‘Alter Haym’ to My Biblical Homeland!
At one point in the biblical story of Jacob, he has a realization — a prophecy — an understanding that his time in Aram has come to an end. What in his mind was supposed to have lasted only seven...
View ArticleParshat Chukat: A National Epitaph
The Dash Poem by Linda Ellis I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning to the end. He noted first came the date of the...
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