Month: July 2012
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Daf Yomi – Democratisation of Torah
As the Jewish world prepares for another cycle of daf yomi I was thinking about what makes ‘the daf’ so special. It seems, on the face of it, to be a crazy thing – to learn a daf of gemara – a whole folio – each day. It is beyond the capabilities of most people… Read more
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Chief Rabbi Hertz on Antisemitism
While looking for reading material for Tisha B’Av I came across this sermon (or short booklet, depending on how you view things) from Chief Rabbi Hertz. It is dated “First Day of Sukkot” (though he calls it ‘Tabernacles’) “1922” and addresses the current increase in antisemitism. Any discussion of antisemitism today is in the context… Read more
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Out of the mouths of babes
I was walking through Meah Shearim the other day with my almost 8 year old daughter. Everyone was selling pictures of Rav Elyashiv (if the Chareidim would wear T-Shirts there could be a huge money making opportunity there – T-Shirts of Gedolim!). So we were speaking about Rav Elyashiv. Tamar said to me, “He was… Read more
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Three weeks
This shiur is for a refuah shleima of Ayala Pamela bat Leah. May she get well very soon! This is basically a repeat of a shiur I gave a few years ago (on a Shabbat, so it wasnt’t recorded) so you can read more about it here. I claim that one of the important (often… Read more
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Less Purple
Jon Lord – far left. The world is a little bit less ‘Purple’ today, with the passing of Jon Lord last night. He was the keyboard player for Deep Purple, and was a childhood hero of mine (probably still is one of my heroes if I’m honest). He was comfortable in the worlds of both… Read more
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Another reason to love Israel
There are many reasons why I love living in Israel (and if I’m honest probably a couple of things that I would change if I had the choice). One of them is being able to daven mincha when I shop at the supermarket. There are several supermarkets that have Shuls in them, many of them… Read more
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Ralbag (Gersonides)
Rabbi Levi ben Gershom is not only the most studied Rishon in academia (after Rambam) but is also one of the most unique and interesting Rishonim (in a world when many were very interesting and unique). His views on science and Torah are both relevant (and speak to me) and dated (and only of historical… Read more