Eating is something we do, three, four, five times each day. Some of us are aficionados of three square meals, the meat-and-potatoes crowd. There aren’t as many as there used to be, perhaps due to their cholesterol levels, but that staple crowd is still to be found. And then there are the grazers, munching all day on a variety of green things that resemble nothing quite so much as the weeds we try to keep out of our lawns. They may live a long time, but where’s the beef?   Read more...

In any five-book anthology, the third book always forms the center of that collection. So it is that Va-Yikra (Leviticus) is the center of the Torah. At the center of Va-Yikra is Kedoshim, the Holiness Code. This parashah central in more than just location. A pinnacle of spirit and morality, it embodies the high water mark of all religious writing, in any period. Read more...

In any five-book anthology, the third book always forms the center of that collection. So it is that Va-Yikra (Leviticus) is the center of the Torah. At the center of Va-Yikra is Kedoshim, the Holiness Code. This parashah central in more than just location. A pinnacle of spirit and morality, it embodies the high water mark of all religious writing, in any period. Read more...

In the movie, "Zelig," Woody Allen portrays an individual who repeatedly rises to the pinnacle of success through his uncanny ability to become identical to those in power.  Time after time, Zelig is able to transform himself into the image of people around him, and those people reward his ability by offering Zelig influence, prominence and prestige.   Read more...