Kill the Indian/Jew, Save the Child

There is a sad children’s story about a Czarist Russian soldier who threatened an elderly, terrified Jewish man. The brutal soldier rolled up his sleeve to administer a beating, revealing an ugly scar on his forearm. The old man looked at the scar and froze. “Yossele?” he said to the soldier. “Huh? Who’s Yossele?” Tears […]

Mocking the destruction of the Temple

The Jerusalem Talmud teaches “The generation in which the Beit Hamikdash, the Temple, is not rebuilt is to be regarded as though the Beit Hamikdash was destroyed in that generation.” Can we establish a corollary that those not working to rebuild it are furthering, or at least mocking the destruction? Those who fast and sit […]