Author Archives: Harry Zeitlin

Admittedly, I’ve got “factory-defective” wiring, but I’ve never really understood jealousy. When I learn of someone’s good fortune it tends to make me happy because, if for no other reason, it reminds me that these potential successes and joys and … Continue reading →

 וּבְטוּבוֹ מְחַדֵּשׁ בְּכָל יוֹם תָּמִיד מַעֲשֵׂה בְרֵאשִׁית U’v’tuvo m’chadesh  b’chol yom tamid ma’aseh bereishit And with His Goodness He renews each day, continuously, the act of creation. A great light goes out each and every day. It’s identical to the … Continue reading →

There’s a teaching (Rav Avraham, son of Rav Eliyahu (the Vilna Gaon), commenting on the Introduction to the Tikkunei Zohar) that when Adam sinned, he diminished the world just a little, מעט (me-aht). One primary step in repairing the damage … Continue reading →

Of all the 39 categories of מלאכה, malacha, productive work, that define the prohibitions of Shabbat, I’ve always had the greatest trouble with מכים בפטיש, makim b’patish, which literally means “hitting with a hammer”, but is the label given to a … Continue reading →

Although B’chukotei begins with a series of blessings if Yisrael lives in harmony with the the design of reality embodied in the mitzvot, the curses we suffer by rejecting them outnumber (in terms of verses) the blessings by almost three-to-one. … Continue reading →

 וּבְטוּבוֹ מְחַדֵּשׁ בְּכָל יוֹם תָּמִיד מַעֲשֵׂה בְרֵאשִׁית U’v’tuvo m’chadesh  b’chol yom tamid ma’aseh bereishit And with His Goodness He renews each day, continuously, the act of creation. We say these words every single day at the beginning of the introductory … Continue reading →

As I sit here on Yom HaAtzmaut, I’m filled with anguish over my own inability to overcome שנאת חינם, sinat chinam, baseless hatred of fellow Jews.  There are prominent Jews whose life missions appear to be to attack and weaken … Continue reading →

I’m visiting Los Angeles, a city where I lived in the 1970s. The traffic is orders of magnitude worse than in those years and the delays are appalling. Of course, there were many exceptions and memory is often rosy about … Continue reading →

We’ve already asked four questions during Seder.  We marched out of Egypt, once again, on our way to something called חירות, cherut, freedom. We’re about to witness the most dramatic Divine intervention into the natural world, the splitting of the … Continue reading →

It’s counterintuitive, but many good solutions are. Perhaps rather than obsessing on our own personal feelings, senses of entrapment, hopes and aspirations, we should focus our attention, exclusively, on the redemption of the Jewish People, both in Israel and in exile together … Continue reading →