President John F. Kennedy, a former naval officer and life-long sailing enthusiast, kept a plaque on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office: “O God, Thy sea is so great and my boat is...
The Prophet Haggai received his divine call “on the first day of the sixth month” – that is, on Rosh Chodesh Elul, observed today. Haggai was to convey to the People Israel that the time...
Seventy years ago today – on August 7, 1956 – the Boston Red Sox fined the iconic Ted Williams $5000 for spitting at Boston fans in a fit of anger. Jewish tradition and morality view...
Honi Ha-Me’agel was a celebrated miracle worker of the First Century. “Ha-Me’agel” is widely understood to mean “The Circle Maker” – in reference to an incident (Ta’anit 23a) when, in a time of drought, Honi...
Parshat Va-etchanan, read this Shabbat, revisits the Ten Commandments, carved into stone and delivered to our Israelite forebears at Mount Sinai. Those stone Tablets are almost universally imagined today – based on medieval and modern...
This week we mark the Shloshim – we conclude the initial 30-day period of mourning – for Israeli artist and sculptor Yaacov Agam, who died on June 21 at the age of 98. Agam is...
The month of Av begins this week with Wednesday’s observance of Rosh Chodesh. Av is also referred to – especially during this past Shabbat’s Blessing of the New Moon – as “Menachem Av.” A “Menachem”...
In a letter John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776 – 250 years ago today – the future President speculated with remarkable accuracy as to how “succeeding Generations” of Americans would...
The impact of the Hebrew Bible on the American Founding Fathers was profound. The extent to which Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Paine, and countless others drew upon the spiritual beauty, literary riches, and political wisdom of...
Dr. Benjamin Rush, American Founding Father, was a Pennsylvania delegate to the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Esteemed as the Father of American Psychiatry, Rush served as Surgeon General in the...
