Libi BaMizrach

Hail to the New Chief It is truly a historic week: Donald J. Trump has been elected President of the United States.  Millions upon millions of words are being written about “perhaps the most stunning political story in American History” according to one pundit.  Nevertheless, I would like to share my “Middle of the Road” thoughts for what they are worth. Briefly, I am not happy that Donald Trump won the presidency.  At the same time, I am thrilled that Hillary Clinton was defeated.  Seems contradictory, but I know that there are many people like me, who voted more against Clinton than for Trump. I will not focus here on the great policy differences between them.   According to my colleague Rav Avrohom Gordimer, these differences are the only things that mattered since the deep flaws of both candidates cancelled each other out. But there was more at stake, and given the awesome power and responsibilities of the position, I could not discount the chara...

I had some interesting news this past week! Several months ago, I submitted the following (excerpted) letter to HaModia magazine: To the Editor, I have been enjoying your newspaper for a few months, and look forward to receiving it every Wednesday – I don’t know where people have the time to read even that whole issue, let alone the daily! Your feature, “A World That Was”, is particularly intriguing to me, and I think you might be interested in this story, and help get these pictures into the rightful hands. Several years ago, when I was a Rav in Portland, OR, I drove cross-country several times with my family so that my kids could spend their summers in “the Mountains” in New York (Of course, after driving through the Cascades, Sierra Nevada, and the Rockies I found that term laughable, but I digress).   After spending a few glorious days in Yellowstone National Park we headed east, and stayed overnight in Cody, Wyoming (a town named after Buffalo Bill, whose...