Dr. Dov Levitan of Ashkelon College and Bar Ilan University has penned a most learned essay themed to last week’s Torah reading of Bha’alotcha entitled, “On the Connection Between the Menorah and the Land of Israel.” more

How ironic that a recently published history of the struggle to liberate Soviet captive Jewry begins with two words — Yosef Mendelevich. “When They Come For Us We’ll Be Gone,” by the skilled journalist and essayist Gal Beckerman [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010], describes the death and life struggle between Judaism and community Mendelevich personified, and which defined a generation of Jewish youth both in the Soviet Union and America. more

For most of our readers, the name Nathan Lopes Cardozo has a non-Jewish, exotic ring. Nevertheless, when you read on you will discover that with his name comes a gentleman whose legacy and ancestry bespeaks of a personal history that legends are made of. more

This year we are witnessing the publication of several new English language commentaries on the Book of Numbers, Bamidbar that will definitely warrant your attention. This essay will be the first in a series on this topic. more

Rabbi Moshe Taragin, in an interesting essay entitled, “A Desert Gift” [vbm.org/Shavuot], writes an interesting thesis on the importance of the venue of the desert for the revelation at Mt. Sinai. One series of very perceptive observations caught my attention and I wish to share them with you. Quoting from the Midrash Bamidbar 1:1, Rabi Taragin cites the following: “Whoever does not transform himself into hefker as a desert cannot acquire the inner wisdom of Torah.” more

With the counting of Sefirah just about to end, the festival of Shavuot commemorating the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai can not be too far behind. In fact the observance of this briefest of holidays is the exact culmination of the Sefirah count and the climax of the historic link between Pesach, the Exodus, and Shavuot and the giving of the Torah. more

Ir David, the City of David, the name of the area beyond the southern edge of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, is fast becoming one of the most visited historic sites in Jerusalem, thus warranting discussion this week upon the annual observance of Yom Yerushalayim. Ir David is the original hill top upon which was established the ancient unified capital of the Jewish nation by King David over 3000 years ago. more

Recently I came across an out of print copy of “Karl Marx and the Radical Critique of Judaism” [Littman Library, 1978] by Prof. Dr. Julius Carlebach, himself a victim of National Socialism and whose parents Rabbi Yosef Zvi Carlebach and Charlotte Carlebach were murdered at their hands. This book closely examines Marx’s absolute hatred of the Jewish people and religion, and goes into great detail in explaining the various methods employed by Marx to justify his bigotry in terms of class warfare and economic philosophy. more

With last week’s Torah reading encompassing a summary of the essence of the Ten Commandments and with Lag Ba’omer this coming Sunday, we are each day becoming ever more mindful of the oncoming of the festival of Shavuot, the holiday commemorating the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. This week’s essay is themed to this event that defines the core of our faith and very existence. more

Comments by two friends of mine concerning the link between the recently deceased former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher and the Jewish people prompts this week’s review; this time, a review of essays, not of books. more