Six months into his second administration, Barack Obama’s presidency has become overrun with scandal. The events of the past two weeks; the Benghazi hearings, the news about twelve revisions of the Benghazi talking points, the IRS scandal and the Justice Department’s attack on freedom of the press via the AP phone records, is a lot of “distractions” for an administration during the course of a four-year-term, however these three all flared up in a one week period. Presidents tend to have problems their second term--but Obama’s second term problems seemed jacked up on steroids. 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

One of the best-known passages in the entire Torah is that of Birkat Kohanim (the Blessing of the Kohanim): The L-rd spoke to Moses saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying: This is how you shall bless the children of Israel, saying to them:“May the L-rd bless you and watch over you. May the L-rd cause His countenance to shine to you and favor you. May the L-rd raise His countenance toward you and grant you peace.” more

Seems like yesterday that I wrote about the chocolate cheesecake truffles recipe for Shavuot....oh, wait a minute it was yesterday that I wrote about it. Shavuot falling on a Tuesday, necessitated all columns to be in a week in advance, so that the paper would be published before Yom Tov. I’m more of a last minute, “Judy we need the column, we’re about to go to press” kind of person. more

Last week’s Benghazi hearings were a disappointment. The testimony and the probing questions from the Republican members of Congress were all up to professional standards, America learned much more about what happened on 9/11/12 (although there is still more to learn). 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

R. Shalom Isaac Mizrachi (Divrei Shalom Responsa YD 9) was asked a question: If a person slaughtered an animal but did not cover the blood, is the meat of the animal permitted to be eaten? He begins his answer quoting the Shulchan Arukh, who says there is a mitzvah to cover the blood (based on Vayikra 17:13), and the Rama who says that mitzvah is separate from the valid slaughtering which is still good even if he deliberately did not cover the blood. 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

After the Torah describes the order and population of how the Israelites traveled in the desert, we are told of how the tribe of Levi was not counted with everyone else, nor did they travel amongst the people. Their camp was around the Mishkan, and their jobs focused on breaking down, carrying and reconstructing the Mishkan as per the travels of the nation. more

Seems like I was just writing my last article about my impending cruise and here I am back on my computer in my den…a far cry from the 4,000 passenger cruise liner I was on. For those of you who were never on a cruise ship, there are a variety of cabins you can choose from, the best being suites, then balcony cabins followed by cabins with portholes you can view the ocean through, and, finally, the “inside” cabin, with no sign of daylight, along with no room to move around in. more