A couple of days ago somebody randomly sent me a YouTube link for Reverend Al Sharpton’s eulogy delivered at the funeral of Michael Brown, the African-American teenager shot dead three weeks ago by a policeman in Ferguson, a suburb of St Louis, Missouri. Ferguson was subsequently plagued by race riots and looting, as lawlessness raised … Continue reading “THE PURSUIT OF JUSTICE IS ELUSIVE”
(For the SoundCloud audio, scroll to the bottom of the page) Charles Ticho of Hackensack NJ, who died last year at the age of 95, inadvertently had a hand in the founding of Israel’s movie industry. In 1954, he was invited to Israel to assist in the production of the first locally produced full-length feature … Continue reading “ON THE BRINK OF UNCERTAINTY”
Jason Tan is Professor of Policy, Curriculum and Leadership at The National Institute of Education in Singapore. He is also an acknowledged expert on what has become known as “lifelong learning”. Singapore is a world leader in this field and the Singaporean government has pioneered a lifelong learning program for the entire population; its SkillsFuture … Continue reading “NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN”
He looks earnestly at the camera, and falteringly begins his statement: “Klal Yisrael (“the Jewish people”) and the entire world are now confronted by a medical crisis, by a time of distress, the kind of which was never seen before. We must be informed about the facts of this disease and what the expert doctors … Continue reading “WE NEED MORE ABRAHAMS”
We deeply feel the pain and distress that has been caused by the brutal killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis by former police officer, Derek Chauvin, whose primary objective should have been to uphold the law, show concern for justice and human dignity, and to protect human life. Instead, he and his colleagues showed utter … Continue reading “GEORGE FLOYD: L.A. RABBIS SPEAK OUT”
Earlier this week I stumbled across an absolutely remarkable article in The Guardian: “The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months.” The extraordinary story in the article – one of the most extraordinary I have ever read! – is particularly profound in the lesson that it … Continue reading “LORD OF THE FLIES UNMASKED”
On April 12, 1945, the Russian-born American artist, Elizabeth Shoumatoff, began work on a portrait painting at a sleepy private vacation retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia, known as the “Little White House”. It was noon, and her subject was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, recently elected for his fourth term as president of the United States. An … Continue reading “AN UNFINISHED WORK OF ART”
As if we are not cynical and jaded enough, enter the latest trend in fake news: the “miracle survivor” story that turns out to be a lie. This week, the BBC was forced to apologize after publishing a “breaking news” story on its website, claiming that a baby had miraculously been discovered alive in the ruins of Grenfell Tower, 12 days … Continue reading “BEING RATIONAL ABOUT MIRACLES”
