Monthly Archives: 15 Iyyar 5770 (April 29, 2010)

Parashat Tazria – Metzora 5770 A Character Assassination in the Making For the past several weeks the Massachusetts House and Senate debated legislation regarding a policy towards the mandatory reporting of bullying in the school system.  Prompted by the suicide of a 15-year-old girl from Hadley and an 11-year-old boy from Springfield, the newly proposed law would prohibit bullying of all types at school.  As for what happens outside of the school, it still remains difficult to criminalize what is happening to our children at the hands of other children.  According to the legislation, bullying would extend itself to the Internet and the illegal use of cyberspace to target victims.  Such electronic communication includes the use of e-mails, text messages, Internet postings, and other electronic means of defacing other people.

Parashat Acharei Mot – Kedoshim 5770 What Israel Means to Me One of the questions that people ask most often when they are troubled by our existence as a people and see the tzoras and the sorrows that we have had to endure throughout time is, “Why are we called the chosen people?”  It is usually followed up with, “What makes us so special?”, as if we think that we are far superior than the other nations of the world in comparison.  This is reinforced each time we repeat the words of the prophet Isaiah (42:6) who quoted God as saying, “I will establish you as a Covenant of the people, for a Light unto the nations.”