462 results for author: Richard Schwartz
MIRACULOUSLY STRETCHING THE OIL: CHANUKAH AND VEGETARIANISM
The Jewish festival of Chanukah commemorates the miracle of the oil that was enough for only one day, but miraculously lasted for eight days in the liberated Temple in Jerusalem. Hence, this holiday is a good time to consider our own use of fuel and other resources.
Like Chanukah’s miraculous extension of scarce resources, vegetarianism also allows the increasingly scarce resources of our contemporary world to go much further. This is no trivial matter, since it is expected that many future conflicts between nations will involve scarcities of oil, water and other resources. Seeing that the Hebrew words for bread (lechem) and war (milchamah) come ...
Making Hurricane Sandy a Teachable Moment
How to Make Hurricane Sandy a Teachable Moment
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the prime concern of course must be to help the many people who are suffering greatly from its effects.
At the same time we should not miss an opportunity when appropriate to respectfully and cordially increase awareness of the many important lessons related to the monstrous storm. For example:
Climate change can have disastrous consequences. In addition to the tens of millions of people who are greatly suffering due to Hurricane Sandy, please also consider how food prices are spiking because the US corn crop was devastated as almost 2/3 of ...