In a field in Ecuador, mountains of bananas lie rotting in the sun. They are a bit smaller than the average banana, and because of that, no supermarket will buy them. They could be turned into baby food, babies generally…
Yom Kippur תשפ"ד During the course of the year when we twice daily say the Shema, we recite the second verse,ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד (Baruch shem ..) Blessed forever is Hashem’s Honorable Name, silently. On Yom Kippur, though,…
The Eurasian tree sparrow, according to Wikipedia, is a passerine bird in the sparrow family with a rich chestnut crown and nape, and a black patch on each pure white cheek. It reaches a height of about five inches, and weighs in at just under an ounce, keeping…
Rosh Hashanah תשפ"ג The Torah (Deuteronomy 29:1) calls Rosh Hashanah, “יום תרועה” a day of “teruah.” The exact meaning of the word “teruah” is a mystery. A bit of detective work was necessary to determine its meaning. The first step…
Taking a walk in the woods can be a pretty mundane activity, but never when you are in Yosemite National Park. In Yosemite, a walk in the woods is a child’s first walk into a candy store. Every bend in…
Elul תשפ"ג Rosh Hashanah, which falls on the 1st day of the month of Tishrei (this year, Friday night, September 16th) marks the beginning of the new year 5784. This counts the years since the world’s creation, which happened on…
Construction is never a simple thing. The general rule is to expect projects to take thirty percent longer than scheduled and to cost thirty percent more than budgeted. But a building taking more than 200 years to build is considerably…
Ki Tetzei תשפ"ג The boy was trouble from day one. Even in the hospital, the nurses couldn’t figure out how to stop his incessant crying. As he got older, the crying stopped, but the mischief and mean tricks he played…
Parshat Shoftim תשפג If statistics are correct, Jews comprise .02% of the world’s population. There are over 2.5 billion Christians, almost 2 billion Muslims, billions more people in many other religions, including non-believers. The Torah instructs us to follow the…