Author Archives: Miriam Metzinger

Do All You Can Do

A few days ago was the anniversary of the statement of a revolutionary concept. For centuries, people have been taught to believe there can be an ideal time where there is no sickness, no war and complete peace. The Ancient Romans and Greeks didn’t have such a belief. After all, they had a god for war and a god for peace. What would the god of war do if strife were eliminated.? Kind of disrespectful to put the guy out of a job. Moses met with G-d himself and to with the People of Israel, he discussed necessary wars, concepts … Continue reading →

Not Ready for Passover? That’s Great!

It seems no matter how far ahead I plan, no matter how many late nights I clean and plan, and no matter how early I get up to cook for the seder, I never feel that going into Passover is so smooth. Some years it is easier than others, and certainly it is better to be organized than to be frantic, but there is always that corner that can be cleaned more carefully, the horseradish always seems to have a thicker peel on it, or something unexpected happens, or I need to have another salad. I am beginning to think … Continue reading →

Why and How Do We Clean for Passover?

I’m just taking a break from my yearly Pesach cleaning to write a blog about …what else? Pesach cleaning. When people see Jews clean out their homes in the weeks and days before Passover, much of what we do can be mistaken for spring cleaning. But calling all Balabustas (Jewish homemakers) Pesach cleaning is NOT Spring cleaning! Because if you treat Pesach cleaning like spring cleaning, it is just too much! We can’t remove every crumb from the bedroom, nor are we required to. Every year I try to review notes from a very sane lecture on Pesach Cleaning given … Continue reading →

Thoughts Following Martin Grossman’s Execution

I’m sure you’ve all heard about Martin Grossman, may his memory be a blessing. Many would protest at my using the traditional Jewish expression for someone who has passed on (may his memory be a blessing) about a man who was addicted to drugs from his youth, who was high on drugs and yet with awareness of what he was doing, killed a female police officer and then tried to hide his guilt. After 25 years spent in prison, Martin was executed last week. Thousands protested this death sentence, many of them Jews, arguing not that Martin Grossman was innocent, … Continue reading →

A Bittersweet Reunion

Two women who shared similar suffering from the past united to promote Torah for the present and the future. Although they could not rejoice together at the hachnosas sefer Torah in Katzrin, Shifra Morozov and Marta de Lange were united as soul sisters, even though one could not be present. Marta de Lange and her fiance Baruch van Gelder, lived in Holland on the eve of World War II. When the Germans invaded Holland, both the De Lange and Van Gelder families were taken to concentration camps where most of the family members were killed, including Baruch. Marta managed to … Continue reading →

Moshiach Now?

It seems that Moshiach is a popular Jewish topic nowadays (i.e the subject of the coming of the Jewish Messiah). Or at least it is considered something worth discussing. A few decades ago, when someone discussed Moshiach openly, he would receive replies such as “Of course it is in prayer and of course it is something we believe in..but lets’ not go public with it because we don’t want people to think we are followers of the other religion.” But believe it or not, the Messiah is originally a Jewish concept and was not revised out of the religion just … Continue reading →

Yakov’s Promise: From Amsterdam to Jerusalem

My husband is friends with a man who is 60 going on 16. He’s always out where the teenagers hang out in the middle of Jerusalem, Ben Yehuda. Late at night, young people go there to hang out, but some show signs of falling into a lifestyle that can be risky and become a prison. Yakov understand what internal and external prisons are like. He could probably make his own map. He spend 35 years dealing drugs until he inexplicably (he can’t even really account for it. Sounds like pure Divine Providence) turned his life around. He grew up in … Continue reading →

Much Ado About Tefillin

Everybody has been talking about tefillin lately. I mean everybody. I never thought tefillin would hit the headlines. These black boxes which contain small scrolls of Torah verses, the boxes with straps Jewish men tie onto their heads and their hands during morning prayer, were thought to be devices that could be used for a bombing on a flight from New York to Kentucky. They caused such a stir, the plane was landed en route at Pittsburg. Well, I have to admit, for someone who has never seen tefillin before, the sight of someone tying on unusual boxes on his … Continue reading →

Pharaoh, Moses and the Light within the Source of Evil

This week’s Parsha starts with the word “Bo,” when G-d tells Moshe Rabbeinu to “come” to Paro (Pharaoh). Something immediately seems unusual about this; Why does Moshe say “come” to Paro instead of “Go” to Paro? “Come” implied “Come with me.” The Zohar says that Moshe was intimidated at the prospect of facing Paro. Buy why would the highest level of kedusha in human form, the outward manifestation of Divine Wisdom, Moshe Rabbeinu, be afraid of Paro, even though Paro was the epitome of evil? Paro’s deeds and wicked commands truly made him seem like the epitome of evil. But … Continue reading →

Be Like Moses: The Ultimate Plea

In perhaps one of the most startling moments in the Bible, Moses confronts G-d about the treatment of the Children of Israel at the hands of their slavemasters the Egyptians; “Why have you done evil to your people?” he exclaims. I remember as a child feeling very startled at this. How could Moses of all people have the chutzpah (or rather, the holy chutzpah) to talk to G-d like that? Aside from the very boldness of the statement, one could also as how could Moses, who had access to the highest levels of divine knowledge and was the greatest prophet … Continue reading →