Daniel M. Jaffe
By Daniel M. Jaffe
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News Your Duty as a Jew
‘It’s your duty as a Jew to stay here in Kiev.” Oh boy, thinks Tolya Epshtein, oh boy. So many Jews have left for Israel and America already, half the Jews he knows. And now his wife wants to join the outflow. So, Tolya came to the synagogue where Jews gather after services to gossip…
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News A Room With a View
‘Your parents bought us burial plots beside theirs?” Cassie brings hand to face in disbelief. “Without asking us first? Who buys someone burial plots without asking first?” “You know how traditional they were, honey,” Zach says in a nonchalant tone. “They wanted to get a little Cave of Machpelah action going for our family. Like…
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Culture The Clouds Lift
‘Y know Torah, Leah Kleinbaum?’ “There was a time.” Leah sighs at this Yiddish-speaking stranger on her doorstep. Only three weeks here and already half of Haifa knows she’s a widow just arrived from Kiev. Who is this man? A farkakte suitor? More chins than she can count, and look how he leans on that…
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Culture Cycles of Poverty
WASHINGTON, D.C. —A woman holding a placard stating “Behar, Leviticus 25” marched down the center aisle of the United States Senate, disrupting this afternoon’s session. As Senators scurried to hide beneath their seats, the protester paced before the podium for five minutes until Capitol police, guns drawn, surrounded her. Only after one Izzy Cohen, a…
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Culture Reminders of the Lost Ark
Jonathan, a member of Temple Har Zion’s New Building Committee, has accepted the assignment of developing a design approach for its new ark. Jonathan figures that he might as well start at the beginning and be as authentic as possible, so he types “ark of the covenant” into his computer’s Internet search engine. He is…
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Culture My Little Sister’s Wedding
Why am I standing here at my little sister’s wedding, and glaring? Unlike you, Joseph’s brothers (and sister!) would have understood me. Go read Vayeshev, my favorite childhood Torah portion. I’m glaring because you stopped letting me crawl into bed with you after she was born, there not being enough room between you for two….
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Culture A Blessing On Your Head
Rabbi Katz pats his stiff hand on a yellowing translation of the Torah. “My boy, we read this very week, in Nitzavim, that in order for us as a people to receive the Almighty’s blessings, we must obey His laws. So, what you’re requesting is obviously impossible. Nothing personal.” “Nothing personal?” Matt — thin, 27,…
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Culture Merry Wonderer of the Night
Marla’s Catholic husband, Billy, sometimes reads the Torah to understand her values. And now, just as they’re slipping into bed, he mentions this week’s portion, Ki Tavo. “It just sounds so… so Christian,” he says. “I figured the Jewish version would be different from what I was taught, but it’s the same: If the Hebrews…
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