In this week’s parashah we read about the pagan prophet Balaam, who is famous more for his talking donkey than for himself. The Cliff Notes version of the story is that Balak, the king of Moab, is worried that the Israelites who are now camped on his border, are so...
In this week’s Torah reading, Hukkat, both Miriam and Aaron die, and Moses learns that he won’t be the one to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. The people are in the 39th year of their wandering Bamidbar Sinai, in the Sinai wilderness, and there are...
I have always seen Korach, the character for whom this week’s Torah reading is named, as an example of how not to behave. That hasn’t changed, but as I began reading the parashah again, where Korach charges Moses and Aaron, madua titnasu al kahal ado-nai, “Why have...
It’s certainly no longer news that the reprise of Roseanne Barr’s show was cancelled following a tweet comparing Obama aide Valerie Jarrett to an ape. In trying to defend herself, she claimed that the tweet was sent while she was under the influence of Ambien, a sleep...
The saying in comedy that “timing is everything” pretty much applies to, well, everything. A couple of weeks ago, the independent documentary “Wendy’s Shabbat,” directed by Rachel Myers, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. If you’re not familiar with it, “Wendy’s...
When I subscribed to the Sunday The New York Times, the Magazine occasionally ran a featured called, “What They Were Thinking.” There would be a photo from several years earlier, and the subject or subjects of the photo tell the reporter what they remember thinking...
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