Pirkei Avot 1:6 continues the conversation about social ethics, which began in Mishnah 4. 1:6 – Joshua ben Perachyah and Nittai the Arbelite received [the Torah] from them. Joshua ben Perachyah said: Provide for yourself a teacher and get yourself a friend; and judge every man towards merit. The final part of the mishnah is [...]

-The distinction between the Holocaust’s meanings and its facts “highlights a central issue in the broader debate about what it is we remember on Holocaust Remembrance Day.� Some recent books present “a fierce challenge to the conventional meanings attached to the Holocaust.� (The Jewish Week) -In a book “comprised of oral history and memory,� Mimi [...]

Do you use a special toothbrush and toothpaste to brush your teeth on Shabbat? If not, it appears that you’re breaking God’s will, or something like that, according to this ad for the Shabbas toothbrush. I’m all for difference levels of observance, but at what point do we move into the realm of ridiculousness? In [...]

The fourth and fifth mishnayot of Pirkei Avot Chapter 1 begin a series of teachings about ethical socializing — and it’s not all pretty. 1:4 – Yosi ben Yoezer of Tzeredah and Yosi ben Yochanan of Jerusalem received [the Torah] from them. Yosi ben Yoezer of Tzeredah said: Let your house be a meetinghouse for [...]

-A project sets its goal to collect 1.5 million crayons to commemorate the 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust. (St. Louis Jewish Light) -And a 12 year old seeks to collect 6 million pennies. (Forward) -Was Raoul Wallenberg connected, directly or indirectly, to a super-secret US intelligence agency known as “the Pondâ€?? (The [...]

Oh Jay Firestone. Replace “Twenty-three” with “Twenty-six” and “male” with “female” and you actually have me: The Next Intergenerational Mah Jongg Superstar. Living more than an hour-and-half train ride away from New York City, my social life has become dominated by the synagogue choir (I don’t have a good voice), book clubs (though I frequently [...]

The third mishnah of Pirkei Avot focuses on motivations for serving God and includes some very interesting language. 1:3 – Antigonus of Socho received [the Torah] from Simon the Righteous. He used to say: Be not as servants who serve the master on condition of receiving a reward; be rather as servants who serve the [...]

-Avner Rinat is working to be “awarded the desirable title of holder of an A-level bird-ringing license.� (Haaretz) -Are irises making their last stand? (Ynet) -A look at the increasing use in Israel of ecologic overpasses to ensure habitat contiguity for wild animals. (Haaretz) -Plans are set for a “bee bridge� in Netanya. (Haaretz) -Rachelle [...]

-A look at the work of Jerusalem’s Hetzroni Zula, a refuge for street youth, mostly teenagers from religious Zionist backgrounds. (The Jerusalem Post) -A look at Table to Table, the largest food redistribution organization in Israel. (Jewish Journal) -Israel is seeing a worrying rise in homeless teenage girls. (The Jerusalem Post) -What is it like [...]

In my latest column for the Jerusalem Post, I look at the post-literary career of Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl. My primary interest is In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, an indie music masterpiece from Neutral Milk Hotel (that’s the name of the band, folks), that is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this [...]