The story is well known – David the boy, in his first famous battle, kills the Philistine giant Goliath: “And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span … And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s […]

I love my country. I grew up in it. I walked its paths. I drove on its roads. I visited the many historical places of my people, located there. I am proud of its achievements. I love my people. I was born one of them. I contributed to their progress. We are an ancient nation […]

What is the fastest speed a human can reach? The answer is a bit “tricky” because the concept of something’s speed has meaning only in relation to something else. Anyway, considering future developments, the highest theoretical speed that a person can reach in relation to any other object is “almost” the speed of light. Simply […]

Hair is a major issue in Orthodox Judaism. If you’re a man, you’re supposed not to shave it from your face (i.e., grow a beard and a mustache). You’re also supposed to grow your “Payot”, which is the Hebrew term for sidelocks or sideburns. In fact, the 252nd of the 613 “Mitzvot” (613 commandments) of […]

There’s something hard to explain with Islam… Don’t extreme Muslims believe in the power of God? Why then they must conduct his battles for him? Let’s see now: In Sweden, threats to burn the Quran by a far-right group triggered several nights of violence. In Israel, threats to sacrifice a young goat on the Temple […]

We used to be few. We, humans, that is. The Biblical story talks about Adam and Eve, but even real science agrees that at certain times the Homo Sapiens population was tiny. And then we became many. Very many. It is a nasty characteristic of evolution that makes the successful ones numerous, and eventually – […]

The religious argument is that the prophecies that appear in the Bible (Old and/or New Testament, depending on one’s religion) were fulfilled precisely. In fact, the fulfillment of the prophecies is, in the opinion of many believers, “proof” that God controls history. So here’s a little about biblical prophecy: The study of the biblical text […]

Religious people often classify other people by their “religion”. It’s like each and every person must “have” one single religion, which is determined not necessarily by him/her, but rather by the religious rules. Specifically for Judaism, the common definition used by Orthodox Jews for a “Jew” is: “A person who was born to a Jewish […]

Nowadays we witness an endless debate between carnivores and vegetarians, when one of the arguments is about the well-being of the animals. In the meantime, countries of the “new world”, especially in Europe, formulate new rules about how animals should be killed in order to be eaten. The main idea is electrocution, namely death by […]

“Sukkah” is the Hebrew word for a hut (as in “Pizza Hut”) – a small house, typically temporary and wooden, in someone’s territory. “Sukkot” is the plural of “Sukkah”, i.e. “huts”. One of the most interesting Jewish holidays is Sukkot. We often refer to it as the “Gathering Festival”, following the Biblical phrase: “Also in […]