Tu b’Shvat: The Jewish New Year for the Trees

One of my teachers, R. Raz Hartman gave over the following in a class several years ago.   I hope I do it justice, and that you enjoy it. Before I start, I want to share a few basics.  For those of you who know this already, please bear with me.  According to our family tradition, our man Moshe (Moses) went up on Mt. Sinai and received the Torah.  What he received was not just the written Torah, but also an … Continue reading

The Evils of America as the Melting Pot

A number of years ago, a Jewish co-worker and I wanted to share a part of our tradition with our co-workers.  Hanukah was approaching and we wanted to make latkes, or potato pancakes, for everyone at lunch time.  For some reason, we went to the human resources people to get their ok.  They told us that we could not do it because it is against the law to bring religion into the workplace.  At the time we were bummed out … Continue reading