Exhibit Two Gets Aished!

(Exhibit Two at Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem earlier this month)

A bit of explanation is in order.

Aish = Aish HaTorah. [1]

Aish HaTorah is an apolitical network of Jewish educational centers in 35 branches on five continents. [2]

Aish is all about Jewish education and kiruv… drawing Jews closer to G-d. [3]

There is an expression for Jews who, through the educational and kiruv work of Aish HaTorah, become more connected to Judaism and more observant. It is said they get “Aished.”

____________________________________________________________

[1] The name Aish HaTorah literally means “Fire of Torah.” As Elie Weisel said: “Aish HaTorah means to me the passion of teaching, the passion of learning. The study of Torah, the source of Jewish values, is the way to Jewish survival.”

[2] Aish HaTorah is a Jewish outreach organization started in Jerusalem by Rabbi Noah Weinberg z”l in 1974. Aish HaTorah’s goal is to revitalize the Jewish people by providing opportunities for Jews of all backgrounds to discover their heritage in an atmosphere of open inquiry and mutual respect. Aish HaTorah is regarded as a world leader in creative Jewish educational programs and leadership training.

[3] Aish’s educational philosophy is that Judaism is not all or nothing; it is a journey where every step counts, to be pursued according to one’s own pace and interest. Mitzvot (commandments) are not rituals, but opportunities for personal growth, to be studied and understood. We learn the Torah’s wisdom to enrich our own lives, and to share these ideas with all humanity.

Read Full Post »

Sullivan Ballou Letter – Ashoken Farewell

I’ve not yet had the opportunity to see Ken Burns’ masterful work, The Civil War.

But I did see this one clip. [1]

A week before the Battle of Bull Run, Sullivan Ballou, a Major in the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers, wrote home to his wife, Sarah, in Smithfield. The letter was written from Washington, D.C. July 14, 1861, on the eve of his unit moving out to war.

He wrote the letter in anticipation of his death.

It is, to me, the most moving love letter I’ve ever read. By the end, I was reduced to tears.

(Bull Run, Virginia – View of the battlefield)

Sullivan Ballou was killed a week later at the First Battle of Bull Run.

In this 150th anniversary of those horrible, bloody years of the American Civil War, please take a few minutes and listen to Sullivan Ballou’s heart-felt sentiments.

____________________________________________________________

[1] The music in the background is entitled Ashoken Farewell.

Read Full Post »

The Most Astounding Fact (Neil DeGrasse Tyson)

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked by a reader of TIME magazine, “What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?”

This is his answer.

Truly inspiring.

__________________________________________________________

Today, Friday April 6, at sundown is the beginning of Passover. It is by far my favourite holiday.

I will be leaving for Toronto Friday morning.

This blog will shut down until after Passover.

I hope to return Monday April 16.

Until then, may you all have a meaningful and spirit-filled holiday season.

Read Full Post »

R’ Michael Skobac’s Healthy Challah for Dummies!

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of spending Shabbes with my rebbe and mentor, R’ Michael Skobac [1] and his charming wife, Chashi.

R’ Skobac is Master Po to my Grasshopper.

(R’ Skobac and I SO don’t look like this!)

Shabbes dinner featured a spelt/camut challah that was out of this world!

He was kind enough to share the recipe with me… and here it is!

R’ Skobac’s Healthy Challah for Dummies (and those short on time):

Ingredients:

• 3.5 cups of spelt flour

• 1/2 cup of kamut flour

• 4 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 cups water

• 2 Tablespoons oil

• 1.5 tablespoons of honey

Method:

Mix ingredients well into a dough. Divide in two and shape into round loaves.

Bake both loaves on a cookie sheet (covered in parchment paper) @ 350F for 40 minutes.

Check to make sure they’re done and ENJOY!

Simple. Fast. And for those intimidated by baking anything more complicated that muffins or banana bread, a really great way to feel like you know what you’re doing.

_________________________________________________________

[1] Rabbi Michael Skobac - one of the world’s foremost authorities on Missionaries and Cults – is the Director of Education and Counselling of Jews for Judaism (Canada). He was educated at Northwestern University and Yeshiva University and has been involved in Jewish education and outreach work since 1975. (He and I also sit together at our little shtiebl, Congregation Bais Dov Yosef in Toronto [aka The Holy Strudel King]).

Read Full Post »

Quick & Easy Purim Hamantashen

This Wednesday night, March 7, marks the beginning of the Jewish festival of Purim, commemorating the events of the biblical Book of Esther in ancient Persia (now Iran). The wicked Persian premier, Haman, plotted to wipe out all the Jews (sound familiar?) but was ultimately thwarted. Purim falls into the “they tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat!” category of Jewish festivals and holidays.

As part of the celebration, Jews traditionally bake three-sided fruit or poppy-seed filled turn-over cookies called ‘hamantashen’ (also spelled ‘hamantaschen). Their triangle shape is because it is believed that a tri-cornered hat was worn by the wicked Haman (i.e. the ‘Haman’ in ‘hamantashen’).

In the spirit of the festival, I offer you Chabad‘s ‘Quick & Easy Hamantashen’ recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 ounce) package moist yellow cake mix

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs

2 tablespoons water

Fillings:

1 cup fruit jam (any flavour) or 1 cup prepared poppy-seed filling or 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease cookie sheets.
• In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix and flour. Stir in the eggs and water to form a stiff dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thickness.
• Cut into 3 inch round circles and place 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Place a teaspoon of filling into the centre of each cookie and pinch the sides tightly to form three corners so that only a little filling is visible. Moisten with water, if necessary.
• Bake hamantashen for 6 to 8 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned.
• Allow cookies to cook for 1 minute on the cookie sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Recipe yields 2 dozen hamantashen.

Read Full Post »

Neil deGrasse Tyson (and why I love him!)

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson [1] is America’s nattiest nerd, its chicest geek!

He’s a sharp-looking scientist. A trendy twerp. He looks great. He is handsome and well-spoken, funny, witty and charming.

And he’s smart. Sweet Lord in heaven, is he ever smart!

(America’s most dapper dweeb!)

He’s the kind of smart that takes very complicated super-brainy stuff and breaks it down into simple bite-sized easy-to-digest pieces that the rest of us plebes can handle. And he make it fun in the process.

And because of that, you remember what he says just as much as how he says it.

He can talk to us in our language without making it sound like he is talking down to us.

He makes science fashionable and fun. His enthusiasm is infectious. You get interested in astrophysics because he is just so darned excited about the whole subject.

Tyson doesn’t intimidate you with his intellect. He beguiles you with his boyish charm.

And that is why we so desperately need him.

At a time when certain segments of society deny science and pooh-pooh basic theories, when ‘Truthiness’ trumps Truth and when Reality is accused of having a well-known liberal bias, we need him more than ever.

The world is a better, richer place because of Neil deGrasse Tyson.

It is a place where curiosity, literacy, education,  intellect and expertise are not dirty words.

____________________________________________________________

[1] Neil deGrasse Tyson (born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist and science communicator. He is currently the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and a Research Associate in the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History.

Read Full Post »

Ring Around the Moon

Earlier this month (February 7, to be exact), was the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shevat. Like some other Jewish holidays, it occurs on a full moon.

But unlike Purim (the following full moon), Passover (the next full moon after that) or Succot (either a Harvest Moon or Hunter Moon), the Tu B’Shevat full moon happens in the dead of winter. It is also known as the February Moon or Snow Moon. When I was a little kid, standing outside on a cold winter night, I would look up at the Ring Around the Moon, awed by its simple beauty. At the time, my mind, uncluttered as it were with scientific facts, was able to appreciate its heavenly glory with pure innocence.

And it is in the dead of winter that you are most likely to see a Ring Around the Moon, aka a Lunar Halo. Still, thin clouds of ice crystals hang in the cold, wintry sky creating these gorgeous lunar halos. Refraction of moonlight by the hexegonal (six-sided) crystals produce a slightly colored halo with its characteristic radius of 22 degrees.

Luckily, there are times even now when, caught unawares by natures grandeur, I am pulled back to a child-like wonder of nature and the cosmos. It could be anything. The Harvest Moon, huge and warm, emerging just above the dark silhouette of a treeline; the Leonids meteor shower streaking overhead; and on the iciest and coldest of nights, Light Pillars.

I love for moments like these. They make me appreciate life. They make life worth living.

Read Full Post »

Partners in Torah

A few weeks ago, I signed up with a program called Partners in Torah.

It is run by that fabulous adult Jewish education organization, Aish HaTorah. [1]

The premise is quite simple. People who, for various reasons, cannot get together with a study partner to learn Torah, Jewish history, Hebrew, Talmud, Halacha (Jewish law), and so on, can get connected with an appropriate person and, together, they study on the phone for 30 to 60 minutes a week.

(I saw this at Aish HaTorah’s Village Shul in Toronto)

As per their website…

Partners in Torah’s signature phone study program offers Jewish adults of all backgrounds across North America a cost-free learning opportunity to discover Judaism – its culture, history, and traditions – at their pace and their schedule. Jewish men and women with an interest in acquiring specific skills or who simply want to build on their Jewish knowledge-base, are matched, one-to-one, with a carefully selected personal Torah trainer or “mentor” for up to an hour a week of over-the-phone study and discussion. Participants can choose any topic including Hebrew, Jewish philosophy, or history. In its decade and a half of operation, Partners in Torah has engaged more than 40,000 intellectually curious Jews across North America, and today supports some 4,000 weekly study partnerships (over 8,000 individuals!).

I emailed Partners in Torah and very shortly thereafter received a phone call from a charming young lady who asked me several questions confirming my status as a Jew, a bit of my background, what I was interested in studying and why, etc.

I told her that while I spend about half of my week in a Orthodox neighbourhood in Toronto, the other half of my week I practice as a criminal defence lawyer down in the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario. Not exactly The Heart of the Old World and certainly not a bastion of Torah Study. In fact, you can count all the Orthodox Jewish men in the entire region on one hand. So I was very keen on being able to learn with someone as opposed to studying on my own (not the ideal method, by any means).

I also indicated to the young lady that I wasn’t all that interested in Talmudic civil law. If a wall crumbles and collapses and a person gets injured, trust me, I could not care less who is liable to pay damages. I went to law school for three years. I hated tort law then and nothing since has improved my outlook on the topic. Bunch of ambulance chasers, if you ask me.

(A page from the Mishnah Berurah, this one dealing with the laws of Passover)

I told her that what I was interested in was the practical day-to-day application of Jewish law. When asked to be more specific, I suggested studying the Mishnah Berurah (the Chofetz Chaim‘s commentary on the Shulchan Aruch [2]), especially Hilchos Shabbos (Sabbath Laws).

Surprisingly, she said, “I know just the person for you!” She then set me up with one of their volunteers, a guy in New Jersey.

He and I emailed back and forth a few times, and spoke on the phone the next day regarding what I was interested in learning and what would be a mutually convenient time for us to learn.

We agreed to study together Wednesday evenings from 7:30 to 8:30 pm.

The first study session went really well, I thought. It was exactly what I was hoping it would be. I couldn’t have been more pleased. I am looking forward to the next study session!

As the poster above says, “There’s happy. And then there’s ‘I have my very own Partner in Torah’ happy!”

____________________________________________________________

[1] For those of you who follow this blog even semi-regularly, you will probably recognize the name Aish HaTorah as also being the international organization that runs, among other things, the Jerusalem Fellowships program which my daughter Exhibit One, attended in August 2011 and which my son, Exhibit Two, will attend this coming May 2012 in Jerusalem.

[2] Mishna Berurah (“Clarified Teachings”) is an important and widely used commentary, consisting of six volumes, on the Orach Chayim section of Yosef Karo‘s digested compilation of practical Jewish Law, the Shulchan Aruch. It combines his own elucidations and differing opinions with those of otherAharonim (post-medieval authorities.)

Read Full Post »

Exhibit One Moves to Israel!

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while are aware that my daughter, Exhibit One, along with her brother, my son Exhibit Two, first went to Israel last May on a Taglit-Birthright Israel trip.

(My daughter on a camel during her Birthright trip)

A few months later, Exhibit One returned to Israel for the month of August on an Aish HaTorah ‘Jerusalem Fellowships‘ program.

(Exhibit One, top centre with sunglasses on her head)

On Sunday, February 5, 2012, my 22-year-old daughter flew to Israel once again, only this time it was not for a visit. It was not to take part in a learning program. It was not for a vacation.

My daughter is making aliyah. She is emigrating to Israel. By Monday, she will have her Israeli citizenship card and her Israeli passport. As soon as possible, she will be enrolling in an Ulpan. Her hope is to be a kindergarten teacher.

(Exhibit One blending in with her surroundings)

She will be living in Ashdod, a seaside city just south of Tel Aviv. It is within rocket range of Gaza.

I am happy for her. I am so proud of her. Of course, I worry about her.

And most of all, I will miss her. Even with emails and SKYPE and all the other modern miracles of communication and transportation… I will miss her. I’ll miss her smiles and the way she rolls her eyes. I’ll miss her flashes of frustration and her ‘come on, hurry up!’ manner. I’ll miss her laughter and her quirky take on life. And I’ll miss her hugs.

May HaShem continue to bless you, my beloved daughter, now and throughout your new life in the land of our forefathers!

In May of this year, my son, Exhibit Two, will go on his Jerusalem Fellowship program. He plans on staying in Israel two months before returning to Canada to finish his final year of university.

(My son praying at the Kotel [Western Wall] in Jerusalem)

If things go according to plan, Exhibit Two will also be emigrating to Israel before long. He plans on making aliyah in two years, when he is 22-years-old.

Thank you, G-d, for two such wonderful kids and for giving me the years to see them into adulthood.

Watch over my children. Protect them. Spread over them and all Israel the shelter of your peace.

Read Full Post »

An Open Letter to Rabbi S. Boteach

Reblogged from 1000 Verses:

An Open Letter to Rabbi S. Boteach

Dear Rabbi Boteach. You seem to be surprised by the firestorm that erupted around your new book Kosher Jesus". Your book was not even released and it was already banned. You have found yourself attacked from all quarters and you have valiantly wielded your keyboard against your critics. The upshot of your self-defense is that you are the representative of a fearless and broad-minded Judaism, while all of your opponents belong to the medieval, closed-minded, fanatical Judaism which the authors of the New Testament so vividly portray.

Read more… 916 more words

A 'must read' article by R' Yisroel Chaim Blumenthal on a very important topic!

Read Full Post »