Everything old is new again, the old saying goes – and anyone who was around for during the 1930s must be having a sense of deja vu. It’s gotten to the point where this parody of Herbert Hoover’s famous line, “Prosperity is Just Around the Corner,” seems like it was written last week, not in 1932! But if we’re looking for guidance from the oldies to navigate the new, harsh realities, I rather like this one, written during World War II, evoking a spirit of facing tough challenges head-on. …

It’s just a bit after Tisha B’av, and as always at this time of year, our collective mind is filled with thoughts of the past – and how that past got us to the present we find ourselves in. Unfortunately, whether it’s because of Holocaust, Inquisition, Cossack rioting, or one of the other myriad tortures imposed on the Jewish people, our present is often about change – of residence, legacy, family history, and even surname.
In many instances, those changes have been so severe as to break the fragile …

We Jews have been around long enough now to know that nothing stays the same. One day you’re up, the next down. Where, nowadays, are mighty Greece, Rome, Babylon – and of course – Egypt?
Of course, places with these names still exist, although their inhabitants have a completely different culture than their forebears. On the other hand, it’s interesting to note that the natives of these, and many other historically once important places, see themselves as the spiritual, if not cultural, descendants of their once-mighty ancestors. Considering that all …