SABERS have been rattling in Persia for nearly 3000 years, so this latest Iran flare-up looks boringly repetitive. Jews have spent most of their existence around warring empires its …
If the world as we knew it was going to end, what would you tell your loved ones? Religious fundamentalists might find the End of Days prospect comforting: foretold in …
WHAT if everything you knew about something was wrong? Would you cling to what you knew anyway, even in the face of new information? Heres the news: fossil fuels will …
Its cheaper to buy local, organic foods than industrially produced ones except the savings are invisible. Invisible, that is, to anyone who doesnt buy, handle or grow them. Local …
Next holiday season, you might consider buying your presents without US dollars. When you decide to buy something, you can also choose what you buy it with. Its legal in …
Is it ethical to burden future generations with the environmental mess this generation created? From a Jewish perspective, the answer is No. Were constantly reminded about passing this world from …
The harvest festival of Sukkot has passed and the feasting holidays of Thanksgiving and Chanukah approach. Lets thank our farming and herding ancestors for helping make our civilization possible. And …
Jews have been stressing about G-ds will vs. free will, and the ideal vs. the pragmatic ever since G-d expelled humans from Eden for eating a Tree of Knowledge apple. …
IN summer of 2006, I asked a highly placed Israeli source this question: Whats with Olmert?! New Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was botching the Lebanon war, relations with the territories …
ON July 4 last year, we were huddling around fires to keep warm in Seattle. This year, weve had 78 minutes of summer so far (i.e., temperatures over 80 degrees). …
TO those who say we never see miracles or talk directly with G-d anymore, I say, Nonsense. We constantly stand in their presence; we just fail to appreciate them. We …
The primary emphasis of Western religions is to celebrate events that occurred in one place the Land of Canaan (a.k.a. The Land of Milk and Honey, Judea & Samaria, …
THIS year Earth Day fell on the Friday of Pesach. It was successful: the earth is still here. Of course, the earth was here before humans arrived, and will be …
WE skeptical humans have always greeted novelty with suspicion. We prefer what makes us feel safe and comfortable, not what challenges us. Thats why concepts like global climate change, carbon …
PERHAPS Israel should change its national anthem from Hatikva to Dayenu. For the Jewish State, so dependent on the support of powerful allies, a song that expresses thanks and delight …
WE just celebrated Tu bShevat. Its about: adaptability, openness to change, investment in the future . . . and incidentally, why to become vegetarian. We brainy …
At a time when fundamentalist religious fringe groups are doing their best to bring on the next world by destroying this one, its thrilling to see a bigger, more powerful …
I MARVEL at how many brilliant Jewish finance minds have significantly contributed to the meltdown and resurrection of the US economy. While the Boeskys, Milkens, Madoffs, Frankels, Bear Stearns, Kolberg …
AS Americans repeat their centuries-old folly of inflaming anti-immigrant passions, we might remind ourselves that the Torah commands us 36 separate times to love or provide for the stranger. Thats …
EVERY ending is a new beginning. This last month of summer vacation deposits us at the start of the new school year, and Rosh Hashanah. What have we learned this …
HELLO muddah, hello faddah. Here I am at Camp Grenada . . . Even when everything goes wrong, theres nothing Allan Shermans singing camper wants more than to …
MAYBE its time to invoke a modern Jubilee on the global economy. Jubilee is the Leviticus concept that every 50 years, with a sounding of the shofar on Yom Kippur, …
SOMETIMES our environmental situation reminds me of an old joke: The doctor asks his wary patient, Do you want the good news or bad news? Patient: Gimme the good news …
WHEN the Israelites moved out of Egypt, they left the worlds dominant empire by simply crossing a sea of reeds. Which route they took over which reed sea is still …