The Micronesia Principle
To mark the just-concluded week-long visit to Israel of the presidents of Micronesia and Nauru, I republish below a piece that appeared in Hamodia in 2004. Micronesia. A fabulous name which, if it didn’t...
Haiti and the Mind of G-d
I am not able to worship a G-d Whose ways are all crystal clear to me – attributed to the Kotzker Rebbe (1787-1859) The ways of G-d are hidden and mysterious; they have never...
A long-awaited trip to Israel
My second daughter, Tehilloh, is very excited, as in about a month, God willing, she and I will be spending eight days together in Israel. She will become Bat Mitzvah at the end of...
No Matter How Hard
Back in the days when I used to visit my parents, of blessed memory, in Los Angeles, I was once driving along Coldwater Canyon, one hand busily turning the radio dial in search of...
China, Skepticism and Belief
China used to bother me quite a bit when I was younger. A lot of people seemed to live there, but it was notoriously absent from the world view of Chazal. (At that point...
A Seamless White Cloak
by Doron Beckerman The success of the holy enterprise rested on the broad shoulders of the seasoned prophet. This was to be the climax of the Exodus, the end of the Redemption, the return...
A Personal Note to Cross-Currents Readers
I had been planning to write a follow-up message about my posting “The Earth Trembles” even before Illana B.’s comment (# 20) appeared. But her request – taking me back to my family’s wonderful...
The place of a non-believing Jew
At a simchah recently, I bumped into the father of an old friend, whom I hadn’t seen for many years. Charlie was always known as a forthright person, and it was good to see...
The Earth Trembles
To any early 20th century Polish Jew, Japan could as well have been Neptune. The distance between the shtetl and the Far East was measurable not merely in physical miles but in cultural and...