Month: August 2012
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Rav Elchanan Wasserman on Daf Yomi
I was looking in a book of collected ideas of Rav Elchanan (Kovetz Maamarim ve-Iggrot). There is a one line comment there about daf hayomi: דף היומי הוא רעיון נהדר, אבל אפ אין חוזרים על הדף הרבה פעמים, הלא בפירוש הגידו חז”ל סנהדרין צ”ט ע”א) שהוא כזורע ואינו קוצר. “Daf Yomi is a wonderful idea.… Read more
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Jon Lord and Me
I remember well when, as a new and very young Rabbi, I was woken one Sunday morning at the end of August 1997 by a frantic parent. Sunday school (as it is called in Britain) was beginning for the year, but she implored me to cancel the learning because of the news that Princess Diana… Read more
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Richard Feynman meets Rabbinical Students
Richard Feynman was possibly the greatest physicist of the second half of the 20th century. Although he was Jewish, he was very far removed from traditional Jewish learning and practice. But he was always keen to learn (and equally frustrated by others who did not want to learn). I was rereading a biography of Feynman,… Read more
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Tiferet Yisrael – Jews and non-Jews
Over Shabbat I was reading Rabbi Binyamin Lau’s book on the Sages (vol. 2) and found a footnote which sent me to a Tiferet Yisrael in Pirkei Avot. In his commentary there, Rav Lifschitz challenges some assumptions about the difference between Jews and non-Jews. I decided to try to translate it – but I only… Read more
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Pre-Bat Mitzvah – still old enough to decide
The Daily Telegraph reports that a court in England (Essex) has ruled that a Jewish girl of 10 is old enough to decide that she wants to convert to Christianity. Apparently her Jewish parents divorced, and her father converted to become a Christian. Now the girl wants to join the father in his religion, against… Read more