Day 46 of the War… and it’s been a very stormy and rainy few days. Usually, rain is a welcome event and marks the end of the long, hot, dry summer season. When rain is expected the next morning, the weather forecaster says that “winter is coming tomorrow”. And everyone is happy. Yet today, it…
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Day 20 of the War. The situation is very complicated, fragile, volatile and very tense. The ground troops have been amassed for three weeks on the Gaza Border awaiting orders to begin the invasion. The United States is exerting pressure to delay the entry citing that a ground invasion hinders the release of the captives.…
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Israel is now at war. The nation is in shock, anger, mourning and, most of all, total unbelief. How could Hamas pull off a highly organized terror attack in Southern Israel and succeed beyond their wildest fantasies against one of the most powerful armies in the world? How could they break through the border fence…
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Honey and pomegranates, dried fruit and all kinds of presents for the kitchen are flooding the stores as Israel enters into the Feasts of Tishri which began two Friday nights ago with Rosh Hashanah. Traditionally, the nation celebrates this day as the start of the New Year, 5784. It is a very happy few days…
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It was Shabbat here yesterday and there was a lovely quiet in the air. The nation honors the Shabbat and even the most secular people take a break from the frenzy of the week. As soon as the sun goes down though, the intensity of these days will return in full power. The current political…
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There is no doubt that the heavens are astir. We can feel the changes in the air but we still see as through a glass darkly. The seasons come and go and superficially, it seems as if it’s business as usual but there is an increasing measure of the intensity of the warfare in the…
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These last few months have been more difficult than most people can remember. The radical right wing religious government led by PM Netanyahu proposed legislation that would change the judicial system, especially affecting Supreme Court decisions and the appointment of judges. Almost immediately, the opposition to this legislation exploded on the streets. People began to…
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Here’s another piece that Rabbi Michael wrote during this last winter’s tour to Israel … We are going to tour the ruins of the city of Capernaum today, so I thought I would write a little about it. Isaiah 9:1 makes a proclamation that Isaiah 8:23 ties to Capernaum which is located at the Northwest…
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I was looking out my window a few days ago and the sky is filled with ominous dark clouds. It had rained and was threatening to rain again. And although rain is usually an event we look forward to happily, this time I was struck that this dark sky was a picture of our nation…
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A very Happy and Blessed New Year to you! In Israel we get to wish everyone a “Happy New Year” two times each year. The first is on the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana) and then again on January 1- the “civil” New Year as we call it. When we first moved here, there was…
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