Rav Yossie Bloch's Blog (19)

Last week, archaeologists excavating 2,500-year-old ruins at the City of David unearthed another great find from the early Second Temple era: a coin with the family name “Temekh” on it. This family is described, in the seventh chapter of Nehemiah (Nechemya

"We do not adhere to all these goyish nationalistic ideals of fighting for the motherland.” So opined MK Moshe Gafni of Degel Ha-Torah last week, just in time for Chanukka. I assume the irony was lost on him, but the paragraph we repeat dozens of times over the cou

November 29th, or as it's known here, "Kaf Tet b'November," is an odd day. The State of Israel, generally speaking, schedules its national holidays according to the Hebrew calendar, not the civil one; nevertheless, this date remains stubbornly lo'azi, foreign.

There is a c

Here we are. Day 40 of the teachers' strike. A day just like any other, except that since this is the Jewish State, this is a milestone you can't ignore. Moshe (Moses) spends forty days on Mt. Sinai learning the entire Torah; then after the Sin of the Golden Calf, he has do it all over again. Centuries later, Eliy

Here we are, the night before Yom Kippur, and you can feel the anticipation throughout the nation. No, not for Kol Nidrei or Kapparot—for Kolnoa! The Ophir Awards just started, and Israel's top films are fighting for best picture, actor, actress. Why tonight? I don't know, maybe it's because so many Israelis make the fast pass more quickly by watching DVD's at home; there are, after all, no televis