Weekend Hospitality

On January 11, 2009, there was a gathering at Trafalgar square in London.  The Chief Rabbi of England, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks gave a very moving speech.  The text can be found here .  Compare this to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's (I'm a nut job) speech on Dec 30, 2008.  Rabbi Sacks says that everyone wants to live in Peace.  Mahmoud talks about criminals and oppressed people.  The dichotomy is striking and depressing.  It feels like the two people are talking about different worlds, and perhaps they really are. It worries my that the US and EU governments assume that everyone is like Rabbi Sacks.  They explain away Mahmoud's talks as theatrical gestures.  When will they begin to believe that he really means what he says. I am sorry that the people of Gaza are unable to live in peace.  I am not sure that is what they want.  After all, the party line of HAMAS is to destroy Israel.   That is not my definition of peace. I wish all our soldiers a safe Shabbat.  May the war be over soon a...

This weekend is a bit unusual. One of our old college friends is visiting for Shabbat. He is not sleeping at our house, but he is eating dinner with us. Back in school (many years ago), I was one of the more religious amongst our friends, but as times change others have taken over that position. This has an impact particularly because this year is the 7th year of the shmitta cycle. The Torah specifies that every seventh year, the land of Israel should rest. The Jewish people should allow the land to lie fallow (uncultivated). The times of the Torah and Talmud, were based on local agriculture and animal husbandry. During this year, farmers were allowed to collect fruit that had grown on its own. They were also allowed to graze their flocks anywhere since all growth is explicitly ownerless during this seventh year. Given the relatively small populations and the fact that most people lived off the land anyway, the year presented a rest for farmers and a change of pace, but not ...