Discomfort: Jewish Holidays in a Nutshell
Judaism is about discomfort. What do I mean by that? I mean we want to avoid it’s opposite – no, not “comfort” but “complacency.” The English language sometimes trips us up as words that...
Author: tostien
Kosher Vacation in Dominican Republic – Revisited
Introduction In 2015 we went to Peurto Plata, Dominican Republic where there is a full time Rabbi supervising two kosher kitchens (dairy and meat) on a resort filled with beaches and pools. In 2019...
Eastern Long Island, Mystic, CT – Beaches and Car Ferr
A Vacation Based on Curiosity Did you ever wonder what’s at the very eastern tip of Long Island? What happens when you travel out the end of Queens, then Nassau County, past the cemeteries,...
Parental Controls – My “Hashkafa” and What Works for Our Family
Introduction I grew up in the age of BBSes … bulletin board systems. Back in my day, it took about 20 minutes on a 2400 baud modem to download a single 640×480 pixel image...
Israel Separate Beaches
Introduction to Israel’s Separate Beaches In the Untied States, we go to the beach before Memorial Day, after Labor Day, on a weekday morning, or a weekday evening and one can usually find a...
After the Holocaust – Why Didn’t Jews Just Return to Europe? . . . and Yad V’Shem
A question in the back of my mind At Yad V’Shem, Israel’s primary holocaust museum in Jerusalem, I picked up a copy of “The Jews are Coming Back“, a book about the return of...
Albert Einstein Biography – Who was he and how Jewish was he?
Who is Einstein? I just finished Walter Isaacson’s biography of Albert Einstein. I sought out the biography to better understanding various quotes which have been circulating as of late. There are the witty quotes...
Israel: Nahal HaKibbutzim Water Hike in Beit Shean
This was easily one of my favorite days on my last trip to Israel. We were based out of Jerusalem and it was a very hot week so were looking for something to do...
Yeshiva Week Break – Kosher Hotel – Rocking Horse Ranch
One of the perks of being frum is that your kids are on a different schedule than the rest of the country. That means they typically have off from school the third week in...
Jerusalem Old City Panoramas and Other Photographs
Jerusalem Photographs Deviating from my usual posting style, this post is mostly about the pictures – of various places within and around the Old City (Ir atika) of Jerusalem. Until about the mid 1800s...