Libi BaMizrach

(printed in the Jewish Press, April 19, 2019) There is release from bondage, and there is release from bondage In the run-up to the wonderful Yom Tov of Pesach that is upon us, we prepare in many ways for Yom Tov, cleaning, buying, selling, preparing Divrei Torah for the Seder, and various other ways.  One way that really ought to occupy our time, however, is planning for freedom during zman chairuseinu.    Baruch Hashem, for the most part, this does not mean striving for physical freedom for most Jews in the reality of 5779/2019.  Other than waiting for Mashiach, most Jews (at least those not behind tight security in Europe or under siege in yishuvim near Gaza) are free to come and go as they choose physically.  But perhaps a more important area of freedom is that of the spirit. To be able – from a place of knowledge and open-mindedness – to choose to live according to the best and truest values that one can.   For us, of course, that means th...

(Printed in the Queens Jewish Link, April 18, 2019) On those occasions when I could break away from Pesach preparation over the last few hours, it seemed that all the news centered on the burning of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. It was amazing to me to see how many people were outraged or saddened or pained by the burning of this building. On my visit to Paris a few years ago, my tour bus passed the cathedral several times, and despite the many impressive buildings in Paris, it stood out.  Hailed by some as the “most important building in Western Civilization, the iconic, massive and grandiose structure hundreds of years old was certainly quite a sight, and perhaps that is why it has saddened so many.   Perhaps it was because this has only been the most recent and famous houses of worship being attacked in a spate of tragedies throughout France.  But as a Jew from New York transplanted to Israel, I was not quite able to process how this seemed to be so...