Blog

by Marc Rosenstein
(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die...
-Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

Last Thursday, after a long struggle with

For some children, finding out that the tooth fairy isn't real is the final straw. Despite our preteen protests and, yes, probably even tears, my parents' decision to tell me and my sister the "real story" of Hanukkah at a young age was one of the most

by Marc Rosenstein
(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)

Thus said the Lord: Again there shall be heard in this place, which you say is ruined, without man or beast - in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate

8 Blogs for 8 Nights of Hanukkah Blog #1: Oil and the Secret of the Jew

by Marc Rosenstein
(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)

I have indeed removed them far among nations and have scattered them among thecountries and I have become to them a diminished sanctity [or small sanctuary]in the countries

For the past two weeks, I had the opportunity to meet with Union for Progressive Judaism (UPJ) rabbis, congregational presidents, board members, youth and social action committees in Australia and New Zealand to discuss congregational social activism and Nothing But Nets. And what an incredible experience it has been -- both personally and professionally!

by Marc Rosenstein
(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)

Joshua ben Perachiah says: Make yourself a teacher (rabbi) and get yourself a colleague (friend) and judge every person leniently.
-Mishnah, Avot 1:6

Last week was the ordination

As Jews, we have always cared about the food that we eat. Some of us choose to embrace traditional notions of kashrut - and many of us do not - but we can all agree that our food, and how we get it, plays an important part in our lives.

by Marc Rosenstein
(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)

Judges and officers [shotrim, the word used in modern Hebrew for police] shall you set up in the gates that the Lord your God shall give you for your tribes, and they shall judge

Take your son," - "Which son?"
"Your only son," - "Each is the only son of his mother."
"The one you love," - "I love them both."
"Isaac."
-Midrash Genesis Rabbah 39, on Genesis 22:2

The other day I observed a Bible class in the regional high school at Kibbutz