Ask the Rabbi
Dear Rabbi Fried, I’ve often been bothered by something I have noticed on Simchat Torah in synagogue, that people who are not dancing are sitting. I know that when a…
In My Mind's I
By Harriet P. Gross At Yom Kippur we’ll be standing together before God, renewing the vows of better behavior that we make every year. But there’s another group of non-Jews…
In My Mind's I
By Harriet P. Gross It used to be that I’d have to go to the library, or pick up the phone, or at least consult my encyclopedia, to find out…
In My Mind's I
By Harriet P. Gross We all know that Emma Lazarus, who wrote the famous poem that graces the Statue of Liberty, was Jewish. Don’t we? And that lots of the…
In My Mind's I
By Harriet P. Gross Waves from the recent Helen Thomas affair keep washing over me. I remember once standing up in a speedboat and watching its foamy wake heal into…
In My Mind's I
By Harriet P. Gross Déjà vu all over again — the recent Solidarity Rally for Israel that drew a crowd, probably numbering 1,000, to Anshai Torah in Plano, where Rabbi…
In My Mind's I
By Harriet P. Gross The usual question: “What in the name of God — or heaven — was she thinking?” But we don’t have to ask the usual question about…
In My Mind's I
By Harriet P. Gross Two Shabbats in Israel! So very different: from what I’m used to here at home, and from each other... On the first, our tour group (123…
In My Mind's I
By Harriet P. Gross I’m writing this the morning after returning from two weeks in Israel—exhausted, and elated. Someone who writes regularly about Jewish subjects should not wait as long…
In My Mind's I
By Harriet P. Gross Once upon a long time ago, I ate the best brownie ever at a friend’s home. I asked for the recipe; when she gave it, I…