My Mother’s Loving Silence A Holocaust survivor, she nurtured me with silence. This Mother’s Day, I’ll mourn for her—quietly. By Chaim Steinmetz|May 11, 2012 7:00 AM | Tablet Magazine   My family wasn’t very interested in Mother’s Day when I was growing up. My mother wasn’t a believer in contrived holidays. Her philosophy was that every...

(my newest post on the Faithblender blog) Google has recently revealed a prototype of high-tech glasses. Project Glass, as it’s called, looks like a pair of glasses, except the lenses (actually, an empty space) are miniature screens. As one walks, electronic data, like weather forecasts and news, pop up on the side of the screen; even data about the person...

It’s a lot harder for the elderly to get respect in the 21st century. We live in the era of the cutting edge; technology rules, and technology changes daily. To be up to date, you need the latest gizmo, something that is often uninteresting or even confusing for older Canadians. In addition, our video driven culture is all about what you can see: videos,...

Religion can inspire man in many ways; sadly, it can also inspire murder. The Bible says that the first murder was inspired by a religious dispute; Cain murders Abel because he is jealous of Abel’s sacrifice. Indeed, the Midrash (an ancient Jewish commentary) says Cain learned to kill from observing his father offering sacrifices; the Midrash seems to...

Religious leadership requires a great deal of courage. Pope Benedict XVI is visiting Cuba. For most of us, Cuba is a charming tourist destination; but for Cubans, Cuba is a repressive Communist dictatorship, with a government that routinely jails its opponents and on occasion murders its critics. It’s easy for a pundit like me to advise Pope Benedict to use...

My synagogue has recently been in the news.On a cold January Saturday night, vandals broke the windows of six different Montreal synagogues, including my own, an attack that was reported in the media the world over.In 2011, even a small wave of anti-Semitism is big news. The fact that Jews still have real enemies will come to some as a bit of a shock.This attack...