Author Archives: Harry Zeitlin

Life isn’t fair. We’re not all graced with the same skills and talents. Only some of us received the Bracha (blessing) of a strong lip and good lung capacity, giving us the ability to coax a sound out of, and thus elevate to a … Continue reading →

Between last year’s Gaza war (complete with US diplomatic pressure on Israel to capitulate), ever-reaching incursions of BDS into American campuses and other attempts to infiltrate everyday life, the Iran Nuclear Surrender and the Obama Administration’s increasingly vocal antisemitism, I can’t not lend … Continue reading →

Although it should have been immediately obvious, it took me a number of years, reading Tefilla (Prayer) 33 (from תקט”ו תפילות (Taktu Tefillot) “515 Prayers” of the Ramchal) many times, until my eye caught his point that מקוה (Mikvah), a gathering … Continue reading →

As a Torah-observing, orthodox rabbi, it pains me to say that the greatest obstacle to Torah observance in today’s world does not come from antisemitism and it does not come from assimilation. Rather it’s the result of a usually well-meaning, … Continue reading →

If you read the previous post, “Can This Be Love”, you might easily conclude that all God wants from us is to “follow the rule book”. After all, if He expresses His Love by giving us “Torah, commandments, rules and … Continue reading →

Tu B’Av, the sixteenth of Av, is described in the Mishna (Ta’anit 4:8) in terms of romantic love, with the maidens of Yisrael, wearing borrowed (so no one would feel embarrassed) white dresses, dancing in the vineyards to attract a husband. Coming … Continue reading →

There seems a special urgency this year, recalling the urgency our parents/grandparents must have felt during the Holocaust. Although there have been more evil regimes in the world than I’d care to count, this time, blood-thirsty fanatics are on the verge … Continue reading →

For many years I’ve taken a rather minority stance and have fasted on Tisha B’Av only until noon. While I haven’t advertised it, I haven’t hidden it either. It seemed to me that closing my eyes to the re-establishment of … Continue reading →

It’s not uncommon that one of the most anticipated moments of becoming a parent is the first Shabbat you bless your child. Not only do you form an additional bond with your own child, but also with generation after generation of … Continue reading →

“How can God award a violent, impulsive murderer with eternal access to Himself?” is exactly the wrong question to ask at the beginning of Parshat Pinchas. וְהָיְתָה לּוֹ וּלְזַרְעוֹ אַחֲרָיו בְּרִית כְּהֻנַּת עוֹלָם תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר קִנֵּא לֵאלֹהָיו וַיְכַפֵּר עַל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, “And for … Continue reading →