The established leadership of the American Jewish community is freaking out. Why is the response to the horrific events of October 7 2023 in some ways more extreme here than in Israel? For some time now I’ve been convinced that we are in transition to a new Third Era of Jewish life; that as aContinue reading “From Whence Our Help”
Monthly Archives: October 2023
The Mashiakh Is Not Coming
“If you have a sapling in your hand, and someone should say to you that the Messiah has come, stay and complete the planting, and then go to greet the Messiah.” –Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai (Avot de Rabbi Nathan, 31b) With all due respect to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, their most famous creation, Superman, isContinue reading “The Mashiakh Is Not Coming”
Yom Kippur 5784: Ethics of the Apocalypse
Introduction: something’s burning The time is urgent. As our ancestors put it in that ancient compendium of ethical sound bites called Pirke Avot, רַבִּי טַרְפוֹן אוֹמֵר, הַיּוֹם קָצָר וְהַמְּלָאכָה מְרֻבָּה, וְהַפּוֹעֲלִים עֲצֵלִים, וְהַשָּׂכָר הַרְבֵּה, וּבַעַל הַבַּיִת דּוֹחֵק Rabbi Tarfon said: The day is short and the work is much, and the workers are lazy, andContinue reading “Yom Kippur 5784: Ethics of the Apocalypse”
Torah for the 21st Century by Rabbi Ariel Stone 