Outrage
If anyone makes his friend’s face turn white in public, it is as if he spilled blood.-Babylonian Talmud (Bava Metzia 58b) All week I have been haunted by an image of a young college student, shamed and...
View ArticleCelebrating Osama’s Death
“My creatures are drowning in the sea, and you want to sing?” - Babylonian Talmud Megillah 10b It took less than 24 hours for American t-shirt vendors to come up with shirts celebrating the death of...
View ArticleWhat Are the Three Weeks, Anyway?
Dr. Erica Brown is the author of In the Narrow Places, a daily meditation for each day of the Three Weeks. She will be blogging all week for MyJewishLearning and the Jewish Book Council‘s Author Blog....
View ArticleLearning to Mourn
On Monday, Dr. Erica Brown asked, “What are the Three Weeks, anyway?” She will be blogging all week for MyJewishLearning and the Jewish Book Council’s Author Blog. We have become who we are as a people...
View ArticleAn Empty Mental Space
Earlier this week, Dr. Erica Brown asked, “What are the Three Weeks, anyway?”, and wrote about learning to mourn. Her new book, In the Narrow Places, is now available. Jewish law is based generally on...
View ArticleBuilding a Great House on Sukkot
“We live, each of us, to preserve our fragment, in a state of perpetual regret and longing for a place we only know existed because we remember a keyhole, a tile, the way the threshold was worn under...
View ArticleComplex Happiness
We are living in a moment of Jewish historic significance, one which embodies the blessing: “Thank you God for helping us arrive at this day.” This Simchat Torah, we express joy not only as we complete...
View ArticleBreaking Bad Habits
“It is too late to prepare when temptation is actually at hand.” Rabbi Yitzchak Meir of Ger Sometimes you find yourself dangerously close to a piece of cheesecake. It inches even closer to you, begging...
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