http://rabbijaffe.today.com Looking deeper and deeper into all sorts of stuff!! Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:24:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This past week has been rather interesting. Last week Baltimore was covered with 20 inches of snow. I used to live in Ithaca, New York, where 20 inches is just you're average winter day, and they've gotten so efficient at dealing with overwhelming snowfall that they're practically catching each snowflake before ... http://rabbijaffe.today.com/2009/12/27/god-powerful-baltimore-city/ The heroes of the Jewish Bible are intriguing. The stories about them often range from the mildly uncomfortable to the downright mind-boggling. Learning about some of the actions of our forefathers makes one wonder two things: 1. Why do we remember these people as great heroes? 2. If you were to create a ... http://rabbijaffe.today.com/2009/12/24/parshat-vayigash-true-path-eternal-greatness/ I do not hide my feelings.I'm not the biggest fan of the current administration. I don't trust this government, and I am rather disappointed with all I've seen so far. But now's the first time I feel like it punched me in the stomach. I'm a big fan of the website politifact.org. I check it daily ... http://rabbijaffe.today.com/2009/12/22/shameful-priorities/ If you're living in northeast USA right now your arms are probably as sore as mine are. Hours of shovelling more snow than you've ever seen before will do that.You're also probably sipping hot chocolate and eating hot soup by the gallon. And while you're avoiding the roads and staying indoors indefinitely you've ... http://rabbijaffe.today.com/2009/12/20/snow-great-person/ The hero of the parsha is once again the mighty Yosef. Learning sections of the Torah like this are very challenging for me, since I already know the end of the story. Sometimes it's really hard to imagine what it must have been like to have been Yosef throughout all those ... http://rabbijaffe.today.com/2009/12/17/parshat-mikeitz-blessing-curse/ When contemplating last week's parsha, Parshat Vayeishev, I'm often personally confronted with a seemingly unanswerable question: How could Yaakov (Jacob) have favored one son over the other? Didn't his lousy parenting essentially serve as the catalyst for all the terrible things that would later happen to his beloved son Yosef (Joseph)? One might ... http://rabbijaffe.today.com/2009/12/15/parshat-vayeishev-favoritism/  So I was creating a PowerPoint to teach about the laws of Chanukah. I wanted to put in some links to songs that were related to the holiday, or to Hallel, which is said each day of Chanukah. My "research" yielded some pretty interesting results.  I wanted to share with the world two ... http://rabbijaffe.today.com/2009/12/13/jewish-youtube-jews-media/ I wish heroes in the modern world could be like Yosef (Joseph).Ever since I learned the story of this amazing individual I have admired how he had truly developed himself so well that there existed nothing that could phase him. Let's look at the Yosef story as I see it: Here you ... http://rabbijaffe.today.com/2009/12/10/parshat-vayeishev-hero-yosef/ Maybe somewhere out there in the computer world someone has an answer to a question that's been burning inside of me lately. Why in the world is the holiday of Chanukah so popular? I know why I love the holiday. What I don't understand is why it seems to be the most ... http://rabbijaffe.today.com/2009/12/08/chanukah-confusion/ I have a confession. I like pro-wrestling. It's not easy to say, but a fact nonetheless. I believe all people (perhaps only all men) have at least one secret joy from their youth that they're embarrassed to admit they still enjoy just as much now. For some it's comic books. Maybe for others ... http://rabbijaffe.today.com/2009/12/06/umaga/