Whosoever Is Wise
"Return, O Israel, for you have stumbled in your sin" (Hosea 14:2). Um, who has the remote control? Can someone please change the channel?! Let’s face it, none of us really want to hear…
Whose First Fruits
When the Oral Law was first codified, most Jews lived in agrarian settings. Today, being less familiar with agrarian culture, some people find it difficult to relate to some of the…
Who Knows One?
How does one transmit basic theology in a fun manner to tired seder guests? The answer is--with song. Many see this as one of the purposes of the Nirtzah, the final section of the…
The Whole Megillah
Whether it’s a long-winded tale, or a story overloaded with details--it’s called a “whole megillah!” (In “the old country” they would have said “a gantse megillah!”) So what exactly…
Who Was Mordechai?
There are some people in this world who always seem to be right in the thick of the action. As described in the Book of Esther, this was Mordechai. It is Mordechai’s niece who is chosen…
The Jew Who Played for Germany
It is impossible to imagine what the thoughts of Rudi Victor Ball were when high ranking Nazi officials asked him to rejoin his German ice hockey teammates and play for Germany in the…
Honoring Those Who Have Passed
Sometimes the world seems a bit like alphabet soup. There are the ever increasing abbreviations that are being made popular via texting (e.g. “ttyl”-talk to you later, and “imho”-in my…
Whose First Fruits
When the Oral Law was first codified, most Jews lived in agrarian settings. Today, being less familiar with agrarian culture, some people find it difficult to relate to some of the…
Who Was Rabbi Akiva
Akiva ben Yosef was once an ignorant and illiterate shepherd. So poor and downtrodden a figure was Akiva that his extremely wealthy father-in-law disinherited Akiva’s wife, Rachel, for…
Who Was Achashverosh
“Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus--this is Ahasuerus who reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over a hundred and seven and twenty provinces..." (Esther 1:1).While…