Nathan Lopes Cardozo's Blog, page 48
May 12, 2016
An Unyielding Marriage of 3500+ Years – Yom Ha’atzmauth
This year’s Yom Ha’atzmauth commemorates the 68th anniversary of a marriage that has lasted more than 3,500 years. This may sound like a paradox, but it is the inescapable truth about the Land of Israel and the Jews. No marriage has lasted so long, been so deep in its commitment and so overwhelming in its …
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May 5, 2016
Yom Hashoa: The Quest for Authenticity – Rembrandt and the Holocaust
On Yom Hashoa one can virtually smell the blood of the six million Jews killed, including one and a half million children. Walking through Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, I see the faces of many of them, and it is not difficult to imagine that these children could have been mine. After all, I missed the Holocaust by a hair’s breadth.
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April 17, 2016
Blessed Are Those Who Eat Chametz!
The Talmud (1) poses the following question: Why is it prohibited to eat or to possess chametz (leaven), such as bread, on Pesach? What is there in the nature of leaven that makes it forbidden on Pesach? For that matter, why only on Pesach?
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April 14, 2016
Plato’s Advice: Do Not Read The Haggada!
Now that Jews all over the world will once again assemble around the Seder table and read the Haggada—the story of the exodus from Egypt—it may be worthwhile to put some thought into the art of reading.
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April 7, 2016
The True Art of Sport: Game or Torture?
In Memoriam of Johan Cruyff, the football philosopher,
creator of the “Cruyff Turn” and a Great Friend of Israel.
25th April 1947-24th March 2016
Today, the need to engage in sport and exercise is self-understood. Keeping one’s body in good condition is considered a mitzvah of the highest priority.
Jews in earlier centuries were never seriously involved in sport, though. This is most likely due to the historical conditions of Second Temple period. With Alexander the Great’s conquest of the...
March 30, 2016
Parshat Shemini – Are You Really Eating Kosher?
In memory of Marijke van Dijk-Zalve, Miriam Channa bat Avraham z”l
who passed away on 11 Adar 1, 5776 / February 20, 2016
“With devotion’s visage
And pious action
We do sugar o’er
The devil himself”
[Shakespeare] (1)
Kosher animals, as is well known, can be identified by two simanim (physical signs). They must chew their cud, and their hooves must be wholly cloven. (2) In order to be kosher, the animal must possess both simanim. The...
March 24, 2016
The Making of an Enemy – The Birth of Amalek
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In Memory of Barbara Freudmann, Bayla bat Avraham z”l
who passed away on 2 Cheshvan 5776 / October 15, 2015
The Jews’ most formidable enemy in Biblical times was the nation of Amalek. This nation was, and symbolically still is, the personification of evil, brutality, racism and anti-Semitism. Amalek is seared into the Jewish consciousness as the unprecedented enemy of the Peopl...
March 17, 2016
Purim, God’s Hidden Face, and the Advantage of a Permanent Job
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In memory of Barbara Freudmann, Bayla bat Avraham z”l,
who passed away on 2 Cheshvan 5776 / October 15, 2015
It was once rumored that the Messiah was about to appear. So the Chelmites, fearing that he might bypass their town, engaged a watchman, who was to be on the lookout for the divine guest and welcome him if he should happen along.
The watchman meanwhile bethought himself...
March 10, 2016
The Hazard of Fluency
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In memory of Barbara Freudmann, Bayla bat Avraham z”l,
who passed away on 2 Cheshvan 5776 / October 15, 2015
“And the Lord said: Because this people has drawn near,
honoring Me with their mouth and lips
while distancing their heart from Me,
and their fear of Me is commandment of men learned by rote…”
[Yeshayahu 29:13]
In this biting critique, the prophet protests against on...
March 2, 2016
Rabbinical Courage and the Frozen Text
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In memory of Barbara Freudmann, Bayla bat Avraham z”l,
who passed away on 2 Cheshvan 5776 / October 15, 2015
The Talmud discusses the identity of a Gavra Rabba, an exceptionally great person or Torah sage. It quotes a most remarkable observation made by the well-known Sage Rava, who states: “How foolish are some people who stand up [out of respect] for a Sefer Torah but do not...
