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Articles by Aryeh Ben David
My soul during wartime
It is now the 59th day of the war. Sandra, my wife, and I have had five kids in uniform. One son and four sons-in-law. Two in and out of Gaza. We’ve moved to Tel Aviv to help out with the grandkids. Most of us are glued to the headlines, the latest breaking news. It is exceedingly difficult to find the emotional bandwidth to go deeper.
A Response to the World's Reaction to October 7
Recently an Ayeka participant expressed outrage over the world’s reaction and media coverage to the horrors of October 7th. He lamented: “How can the world so easily ignore, forgive or condone what Hamas did to us on October 7?? It is utterly bewildering and breaks my heart. It infuriates me. I want to scream to the world, ‘Have you gone completely mad?’ I want to change the entire world’s opinion of us and our situation. What can I do to fight this madness, to stop it and eliminate it”.
Judaism Disrupted: A Spiritual Manifesto for the 21st Century
Review By – May 23, 2023 In this deeply moving new book, Michael Strassfeld — a retired pulpit rabbi — is both worried and cautiously optimistic about the fate of liberal Judaism in the twenty-first century. He views Judaism as an historically evolving civilization, which reflects the influence of Mordechai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionism.
Reflections on the Jewish critics of Israel inspired by the writings of Rav Kook
Disclaimer #1: I have shown this piece to several people whose opinions I greatly value. No one really liked or agreed with the ideas presented below. I admit that I myself am conflicted over what I wrote. Nevertheless, I cannot enter Shavuot with anger or resentment in my heart toward another Jew. Shavuot commemorates the Jewish People standing at Mount Sinai as “one people with one heart”.
Busted out of gloom
Dec 6, 2020, 1:28 PM Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. Please contact us in case of abuse. In case of abuse, Report this post. The Hanukkah candle is unlike any other candle. It is not like a regular candle, which gives light. It is not like a birthday candle, which brings happiness.
The blessing of 'I love - you'
Jul 12, 2020, 2:59 PM Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. Please contact us in case of abuse. In case of abuse, Report this post. In my old age, I am discovering love. Not romantic love. I found the love of my life 40 years ago. I am finally discovering what it means for me to say, “I love you”.
Ahava Yomit (Love Daily)
I want to teach two truths that we all know: What we need most in life is love. We feel best about ourselves when we are loving human beings. I’m not talking about crazy wild romantic love (though that is also important) ― I’m talking about everyday love. Loving behavior expressed in words and acts of kindness, in families and communities, amongst friends and strangers. We are wired to be loving. When we express love, we are most in sync with our nature.
Dancing with God
Sep 24, 2019, 2:27 PM Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. Please contact us in case of abuse. In case of abuse, Report this post. God, will you dance with me? That might be the most ridiculous, inane, and absurd thought that has ever crossed my mind. I’m embarrassed to look at it now.
Rethinking Tisha B'Av | Aryeh Ben David | The Blogs
Aug 7, 2019, 7:34 AM Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. Please contact us in case of abuse. In case of abuse, Report this post. When I heard her compliment, I said to myself, incredulously: “Me?! If she really knew me, she wouldn’t have said that.” And just like that －I became a grasshopper.
Bringing Kabbalah into Our Educational Syllabus
Jun 5, 2019, 8:45 AM Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. Please contact us in case of abuse. In case of abuse, Report this post. An educational consultant recently told me that teachers often teach what they feel most comfortable teaching, and not necessarily what their students need to learn.
Personal Well-Being is not Enough
May 28, 2019, 9:13 PM Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. Please contact us in case of abuse. In case of abuse, Report this post. Well-being has become the god of today. Everything we do is evaluated in terms of whether it promotes or diminishes our personal well-being.
A Judaism bereft of Its center
May 20, 2019, 2:27 PM Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. Please contact us in case of abuse. In case of abuse, Report this post. I once asked a rabbi: “How is your personal relationship with God?” Speechless, his face went white.
Kidnapped by God
Dec 31, 2018, 11:51 AM Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. Please contact us in case of abuse. In case of abuse, Report this post. She wrote and asked if we could talk. Meredith’s¹ father, William, had died six months before.
Creating a Classroom of Soulful Hospitality
What will we say to our alumni if they return and tell us: “You helped me think and relate. You cared about me. I’m extremely grateful. But I finished my youth as a stranger to my own soul. Why didn’t you help me with that?” Teachers work very hard to welcome their students. They decorate the rooms, generously listen, and care about each student.
Toxic Stones - The Forward
Experiences of pain, confusion, and depression are inescapable. Just as God created a world with light and darkness and day and night, we have times when we are open to hearing and feeling gratitude for the voice of the soul. We have other times when life seems confusing and bleak and the voice of the soul seems distant and mute. When we feel pain, we need to stop and deeply experience the pain. We need to delve into and embrace its emptiness — to hear it and to learn from it.
Learning to love my sons' radical disobedience
We, religious Jews, are caught in a searing conundrum. On the one hand, we want to raise strong independent kids who make their own decisions; on the other hand, we are crushed when their choices are different from the ones we hoped for and wanted them to make. But the real crisis and tragedy is not about the different choices our kids make, it’s about how we respond to them. Parents tell their children countless times: “I love you.” We mouth the words day after day. But love is not just words.
Hearing the voices of our kids
He said he wasn’t going to fast on Yom Kippur. She traded in her long-sleeved shirts and skirts for tank tops and shorts. He got a second earring, this one on the top of his ear. She was tired and annoyed by the rules. Shabbat meals became optional. And so their parents came to me. The conversation started: “How do you feel about what your kids are doing?” “He’s ruining our family. What will be the effect on our other kids?” I said: I’m not an expert in parenting — just a fellow traveler.
Jewish literacy -- unfortunately, it’s not enough
I applaud the incredibly generous gifts supporting Jewish education today. Tens of million of dollars have been directed to many institutions to enhance Jewish literacy and the educational skills of dedicated professionals. It is a landmark time for Jewish education in North America. My concern, though, is that it is not enough. Jewish literacy and better educational skills are vital but not enough to develop or even sustain Jewish identity.
Meeting the Worst Person in the World
I stretch out, get up and walk around. Don’t need to inconvenience anyone when I have to wander. Recently I flew back from the States after a long trip and was so happy and content to be going home in my aisle seat. I took off my sneakers, arranged my book and headphones, placed the pillow behind my back, and was totally at peace, looking forward to a smooth and maybe even enjoyable 10-hour flight. Then a young man approached me.
A vibrating seder
We’re going to try something new at seder this year. For the first time in years, we’ll be having an adult seder. Kids are older and the marrieds with the grandkids will be at the in-laws. This year we are not buying new Haggadot. It seems that every year dozens of new commentaries on the Haggadah come out. A lot of wise people expressing their voices. But this year we’re not focusing on what other people have to say about Pesach.
BBC: Stop talking about the Holocaust?
Should the world stop talking about the Holocaust? The answer might be obvious to many, but the BBC wants to open it up to discussion. As part of its special International Holocaust Remembrance Day programming, the BBC One show The Big Questions held a discussion on the lessons of the Holocaust, and how it is remembered today. The show, which aired Sunday, featured rabbis, academics, survivors, and educators. Some Twitter users didn’t take especially kindly to the question.
Former soccer star Eli Ohana to join Jewish Home
A Channel 2 poll Monday night showed the Zionist Camp three points clear of Likud, 50 days ahead of the March 17 elections, as Yesh Atid presented its list of candidates and the Jewish Home was said to recruit former soccer star Eli Ohana to its ranks. The Channel 2 poll gave the Zionist Camp (the merged Labor-Hatnua list) 26 seats, Likud 23, Jewish Home 15, the new united Arab list 12, Yesh Atid 9, Kulanu 8, Yisrael Beytenu 7, Shas 7, United Torah Judaism 7 and Meretz 6.
Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn holds steady in Greek elections
ATHENS, Greece — The neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party remained the third-largest party in Greece following elections. In Sunday’s balloting, Golden Dawn received 6.3 percent of the vote, giving it 17 seats in the 300-member national parliament. Nearly all of the votes had been counted. The far-left Syriza party fell one seat short of a majority needed to govern alone as Greeks embraced its promise to end six years of economic austerity.
Former Nazi loses Canadian citizenship
TORONTO — Nazi-era war-crimes suspect Helmut Oberlander has lost an appeal to keep his Canadian citizenship. In a ruling made public last week, Canada’s Federal Court rejected the claim of Oberlander, 90, that he served Nazi Germany under duress. The court’s verdict upheld an earlier government decision. Oberlander failed to show that he had made any effort to leave the Einsatzkommando Nazi death squad, which he served as an interpreter, the court ruled.
Rally against Islamophobia draws 10,000 in Germany
BERLIN — German President Joachim Gauck told the country’s Muslim community Tuesday that “we are all Germany” at a rally to condemn the Paris jihadist attacks and take a stand against rising Islamophobia. About 10,000 citizens, religious leaders and politicians, among them Chancellor Angela Merkel, joined the event, which started with a wreath-laying ceremony at the French embassy and an imam reciting Koranic verses condemning the taking of life.
Islamic State video purports to show child executioner
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Islamic State jihadist group released a video on Tuesday purporting to show a young boy executing two men accused of working for Russian intelligence services. The video shows the two men apparently being shot dead by the child after being interrogated on camera about their alleged attempts to infiltrate IS in Syria.
French lawmakers vote to extend air campaign in Iraq
PARIS, France — French lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved continuing air strikes against Islamic State jihadists in Iraq as part of a US-led coalition.
European Jews demand more security at Jewish institutions
BRUSSELS — The European Jewish Congress called on Belgium and other European Union member states to beef up security around Jewish institutions. EJC President Moshe Kantor issued the call Monday as security professionals from Jewish communities across Europe gathered in the Belgian capital to drill for a scenario in which a car bomb explodes outside a synagogue.
380 homes okayed in Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem
Israeli authorities gave final approval on Wednesday to the construction of 380 new homes in two Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, a local official said. “The municipal commission has given construction permits for 307 homes in Ramot and 73 in Har Homa,” Pepe Alalu, a Jerusalem city councilor with the opposition Meretz party, told AFP. He accused local officials of taking advantage of attention focusing on Israeli elections due in March to expand construction in disputed areas.
IDF will respond firmly to threats, Gantz vows after Gaza attack
Any attack on Israel will be met with a swift and forceful response, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz vowed Wednesday, hours after Palestinians opened fire on an Israeli patrol along the southern Gaza Strip, severely injuring one soldier. The incident, the second cross-border exchange with Gazan fighters in less than a week, also elicited harsh responses from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while a UN official said he was “deeply concerned” over the fire.
Likud comptroller bars PM from running for party leadership
A Likud comptroller disqualified Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from running for the party’s leadership primary next week, in a move that could imperil the prime minister’s chances of competing for another term. Comptroller Shai Galili cited Netanyahu’s use of party funds and other property to advance his candidacy in disqualifying him from the primary.
'Egypt thwarts Islamic State-linked bid to hit Israeli targets at sea'
Egypt thwarted a bid by Islamic State-affiliated terrorists to attack Israeli targets in the Mediterranean Sea last month, Israel’s Channel 2 reported Monday. The terrorists commandeered an Egyptian Navy missile boat for the planned attack, the TV report said, but were stopped at sea by a pursuing vessel, and eight people were believed killed in the ensuing battle.
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