Posts by Ari Rosenblum

Crazy Train

Many of us will have seen the news this past week of the passing of Ozzy Osbourne, lead singer of Black Sabbath and godfather of the Heavy Metal genre in pop music. Osbourne was known for his outlandish and controversial stage presence, which included an incident with a bat (I shall say no m…

Movie Star Morality

“My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!”

“I have been in the revenge business so long, now that it's over, I don't know what to do with the rest of my life.”

Like many of you, I’ve been a fan of Mandy Patinkin for a very long time. Of course, the famous q…

Time to Show Our Strength

Several months ago, (January 31, 2025) I wrote here explaining in great detail the false, pernicious, even diabolical narrative that Israel is perpetrating a genocide in Gaza. It was apparent to me then, and has only become clearer to me now, that those who platform the modern version of the…

Declaration and Constitution

Today we celebrate the 249th anniversary of the promulgation of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Several months ago I was in Philadelphia and took a tour of Independence Hall. One thing that struck me was the combination of reverence for the place and access for everyone that charact…

Who Writes the Last Chapter?

Early on in the post 10/7 conflict, I began to listen to podcasts featuring Israeli journalist Haviv Rettig Gur. Gur had a very incisive approach to his analysis. It wasn’t ideological, it was extremely well informed, and it was clear eyed about the challenges faced by Israeli society, by …

Family

A few minutes ago early this morning, my daughter returned home to Toronto.

In Israel on a seminar with educators and group leaders when the war with Iran began, like millions of others she spent most of a week in and out of a bomb shelter. She and her group were evacuated through Ashdod to…

No One Else Will Bomb the Tracks to Auschwitz

For the second time in two weeks, I find myself compelled to write a new message hours before we publish our newsletter. Circumstances give me no other choice. It reminds me of November 1989, when my Modern European History course in my 2nd year at the University of Toronto had to be reworke…

The Intifada Has Been Globalized

It had been my intention to write this week about our friends and allies in Rockland’s LGBTQ+ community. As Pride month celebrations continue, let us not only passively recall but also actively assert that the identity and the rights that our community believes are being eroded - by the h…

Resilience

It’s a byword these days, among us. Resilience is how we describe the way in which our people are continuing to weather this unrelenting storm we find ourselves in. We turn on the TV or social media, and see yet another protest, another violent attack, another scrawled swastika or vandaliz…

From Mourning to Celebration

It was a burning hot summer, 34 years ago in Jerusalem. I had been backpacking for a month in Scotland and England, and had just got to Israel a few days earlier. The ninth of Av that year was on Shabbat, so the day-long fast commemorating the destruction of the Temple in 68 CE was pushed of…

A Jewish Mother

The image is fixed. Seared in my mind, in my memory, forever. The lioness, Shiri Bibas HY’D, holding her boys in her arms, the fear and determination written on her face. The pictures and videos of her family life that we all saw in the aftermath tell a story of love, happiness, laughter a…

A Woman of Valor

When we sing the song ‘Eshet Chayil’ as we welcome in the Sabbath, we recite the verses describing a woman secure in her role, proud of her vast accomplishments, appreciated for her wisdom, courage, and goodness. Today, I’d like to share the stories of three women of valor who share al…

A Beautiful Thought

I was looking for some notes from an almost-forgotten report I had written many years ago, and found myself searching through some very old emails from a little-used hotmail account several days ago.

I came across an old story I had saved back in 2003 - which I am not sure I ever used - tha…

The Two Questions

I'd like to share a narrative with you, and two questions, not unlike some of those we ask on the Seder night. The purpose is to provoke thought and further discussion. The questions may provide an opportunity to turn a lens on ourselves, and draw conclusions, as we celebrate the story and t…

Gratitude

The Jewish people have a complicated relationship with the concept of gratitude. After the exodus from Egypt, we are told that the grumbling and complaining began immediately, and the idea of ‘God took us out of Egypt to have us die in the desert’ was repeatedly heard. And yet, some of o…