Muder…Senseless Murder…

Again the terrorists have stuck. This time twice within moments. At the time of posting, 16 dead with 100 injured. Where? Be’er Sheva in central Israel. Why here? Perhaps because it is a 30-minute drive from Hebron, origin of the attacks and there is no security barrier bewteen Hebron and Be’er Sheva.
Read about [...]

A Gold medal for Israel

Windsurfer Gal Fridman won Israel’s first gold medel EVER today in the men’s Mistral Windsurfing competition! It is their second medel ever, with the first in Barcelona, but the first gold. Fridman’s first name, Gal, means “wave” in Hebrew - how fitting. You can find coverage and many other details at articles in:
Ha’aretz
Jerusalem Post [...]

5 Elul - Preparations for the Holy Days

Shavuah Tov. I hope that you and yours had a wonderful Shabbat. As you likely know, we are now almost through the first week of the month of Elul. This month is one of preparation, reflection, thought and repentance as we approach the Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim). There are many things [...]

Israel’s first medal in 2004 games

Arik Ze’evi won Israel’s first medal in the Athens games today with his Bronze medal for Judo. See the full report, including picutres at this Jerusalem Post article.
Congrats!

Genocide Crisis in Sudan

A crisis of enormous proportion is going on in Sudan. Here (from the Religious Action Center) is just a bit of what is happening:
A humanitarian crisis is gripping Sudan, where tens of thousands of innocent lives have died and hundreds of thousands others are being displaced from their homes in the Darfur region by [...]

Torah’s daily connection to our lives

Today I was struck again by the timeliness of Torah. So many times when I ponder an event in the news, my life or a friend’s life, a verse of Torah comes to mind. Issues of the day (like the horrific situation in the Sudan - see post after this one) have resonance, responses [...]

Olympic Athletes

Good luck to the Israeli athletes headed to the Athens olympics. Israel is sending 36 olympians to Athens, with a farewell ceremony today for many of them at Ben Gurion airport. Read an article about it at the Jerusalem Post. Thanks to Mike for the link.
Good luck to the Israelis and all who go [...]

Weekly Torah Portion - Ekev

One of the components in this week’s Torah portion gives us the mitzvah of reciting birkat ha-mazon after we eat. Rabbi David J. Meyer comments on the nature of the grace after meals in his drash, “Thanksgiving and Dedication.”
Here is an excerpt:
The same can be said, of course, in regard to a prayer recited before [...]