What is the Secret of Tisha B’Av?
Reading is magical. Reading can take you places you have never been and show you things you have never seen. It is almost as good as being there and reading fanatics know that in many ways, reading is better than watching a movie. It goes...
Nine Days: Mourning with a Purpose
My rabbi once told me that God created the world because he loves stories and the best stories are about people. But some stories take generations to tell. The Bible graphically illustrates this. The covenant that God made with Abraham...
Mourning My Temple: Why We Are Still Crying 2,000 Years Later
My son had his blanky; the blanket he used in the crib when a baby. Over the years, we tried to replace it but to no avail. Now that he was ten years old, we had given up on replacing the now-tattered piece of cloth. I tried...
Mourning During the Omer
There is nothing that is more joyous than being taken out of bondage by the hand of God. But immediately following the celebration of Passover, Jews enter the seven-week period of the Omer which is traditionally a period of austerity and...