In 1952, Life Magazine published Ernest Hemingway’s last significant work, his novella ‘The Old Man and the Sea’.
Many of us of course have read it, perhaps more than once. In it, the old and unlucky fisherman Santiago goes out fishing after 12 weeks without a catch.
When he finally …
As many of you now know, several days ago on August 9th, a sermon was given at a local mosque by an individual who was not the Imam or a regular speaker. The sermon was live streamed and uploaded to the website of the mosque. The speaker began in English, but when he continued in Arabic, the…
My regular readers know that I am and always have been a historian. History was my first love, and it sometimes takes you to surprising places.
In the fall of 803 CE, a Frankish army besieged Barcelona, at the time a stronghold of the Ummayad Caliphate. In late October or early November, af…
Our tradition advises that these days between the 17th of Tammuz and the ninth of Av - especially the first nine days of Av - are described as ‘Bein Hametzarim’ or ‘In or between dire straits’ considering our historical calamities (the breaching of Jerusalem’s walls and destruction…
As most of you will have noted, yesterday marked 300 days of captivity for the hostages taken on 10/7. 300 days of darkness, privation, abuse and worse. So much has transpired in those 300 days, and yet we find ourselves still praying, still hoping, still advocating and still demanding the r…
