The city of Marrakech was, for many years, home to the largest Jewish population in Morocco. Today it has two functioning shuls: one in the …
Musings from Morocco: Berber Blessings
“Eizo asheer? Hasameach bechelko, Who is wealthy? One who is happy with his lot”. It is often hard for many of us raised in the…
Musings from Morocco: Welcome to Fez
Outside of the world of the yeshiva, it’s a safe bet to assume that most who study Talmud do so as part of the Daf Yomi cycle. This…
Musings from Morocco
“With fidelity to its irreversible choice to construct a democratic State of Law, the Kingdom of Morocco…having as its bases the…
Goodbye Greece
As I sit on the plane, having just spent ten glorious days in Greece, let me share some final thoughts of our wonderful trip. Greece is a…
The Charm of Chalkis
Something that one might be fairly certain will never appear in a shul, no matter where it is or what the denomination, is a cross. Well, almost…
Salutations from Salonica
As one enters the beautiful Yad Lezikaron shul in Salonica, one notices plaques on the wall. But unlike in most shuls, these are not yahrzeit plaques…
Impressions from Ioannina
One of the beautiful experiences in travelling around the Jewish world is seeing the richness and diversity of Jewish life. I imagine not many on…
Commentary from Corfu
“Ma rabu ma’asecha Hashem, how beautiful are Your creations, G-d!” After travelling in Greece for a couple of days, one understands…
Arrival in Athens
Philosophy, mathematics, democracy, the Olympics, architecture, libraries, trial by jury, mythology, and the alphabet are just some of the…
Reflections from Frankfurt, Germany
Often when we think of Frankfurt we think of Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch. And for good reason. He almost single handedly is responsible…
Reflections from Worms, Germany
Moving along the Rhine from Mainz one arrives in Worms. Along with Mainz and Speyer Worms is one of the Kehilot Shum, the three great centres of…
Musings from Mainz, Germany
Askenazic Jewry begins as Jews settle along the Rhine river in the middle decades of the tenth century. While individual Jews may have…
Reflections from Germany - Part 3
In our last post I discussed our meeting three of the communal rabbis of Berlin. We also met with the Rabbi of the separatist…
Some More Reflections from Berlin Germany
Of the approximately 520,000 Jews living in Germany in 1933 over 300,000 emigrated before the war. Living under Nazi rule they saw the danger long…
Reflections from Berlin
On May 12, 2015 Reuven Rivlin, President of the State of Israel, addressed the German parliament--fifty years to the day of the…
Thoughts from Poland: Part 5
The Ramah, Rav Moshe Isserles, is probably the most famous and important figure to have lived in Krakow. Born in 1530 to a wealthy family, the name…
Thoughts from Poland: Shabbat in Krakow
Shabbat in Krakow. A city of glory, like almost no other in Jewish history. The Jewish quarter dates from the 16th century and is actually…