Author Archives: Harry Zeitlin

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz explains that over the many generations we’ve been in exile, Tu B’Shvat developed from a largely technical date to determine certain halachot pertaining to trees into a quasi-“Memorial Day” for the Land of Israel. Over the years, Jews have made … Continue reading →

The famous Midrash (Mechilta B’Shalach, Shira 23) relates that even the humblest handmaiden saw more at the parting of the sea than did Ezekiel the Prophet. Yet, just days after this experience of enlightenment, complaining bitterly for better-tasting water, we no … Continue reading →

Along with my grandfather, Philip Zeitlin z”l, gone since before my Bar Mitzva, Rabbi Israel Rosenfeld z”l first introduced me to Gemara in 1963. As a way of thinking and analyzing, it has been my lifelong passion and, along with … Continue reading →

Of course, everything I wrote about ignorance leading to slavery is at least as applicable on the personal level. We’re hobbled not merely by ignorance, but by self-ignorance. If only we could bring to consciousness everything that our souls and … Continue reading →

There are slaveries and there are slaveries. Sometimes one group of people enslaves another and sometimes we enslave ourselves. There are oppressions and there are oppressions, aggressions and aggressions. Sometimes the oppressor and aggressor is external, sometimes we’re our own … Continue reading →

Blame it on social media, but the latest tokenism of support for victims of various outrages, slaughters and natural disasters has been to hold up a sign (or more likely just copy a ready-made one that’s already gone viral) identifying … Continue reading →

When I grew up in Denver in the early 1950s and 60s, it was a very different world. Perhaps we over-simplified our values with fewer areas of ambiguous grey, but we knew who the good guys were, the US, and … Continue reading →

Normally I would wait almost exactly a half-year to write about Parshat Shelach, the Torah reading about the “spies” who, sent by Moshe to scout out the land, returned with a list of complaints and exaggerations and took the heart … Continue reading →

If you’re much younger than me, unless you’re a country and western fan or a musicologist, you’re probably not familiar with Johnny Cash’s great hit, A Boy Named Sue. Listen to the song for its message or just to refresh … Continue reading →

It’s the seventh night of Chanukah. I’ve lit with oil for more than thirty years. I have an old, unornamented chanukiah that was very common in Jerusalem. It still might be. Constructed of brass and faced with glass, it’s like an … Continue reading →