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reward

The Heart of Jewish Joy

We\’ve come to expect that anything authentically Jewish must be hard, painful, difficult. No chrain, no gain.

A Mensch

This is the second year The Jewish Journal has compiled a list of our \”Top Ten Mensches.\” Let other magazines slobber over the 50 Sexiest or the 400 Richest or the 20 Most Influential. Rich, sexy and powerful are easy. Mensch is hard.

We Must Condemn Heartless Bilge

\”It is not in our hands to explain the prosperity of the wicked or even the sufferings of the righteous.\” So said Rabbi Yannai in the Mishna some 2,000 years ago. The Talmud (Kiddushin 39b) insists \”there is no reward for mitzvot in this world.\” We have had a long time to read and understand the Book of Job, and we know that the calculus of reward and punishment is more perplexing and agonizing than we can know.

Than we can know, but not, apparently, than Rav Ovadiah Yosef, a former chief rabbi of Israel, can know. Rav Ovadiah is an ilui, a genius of halacha.

His memory is astonishing, his range remarkable. Unfortunately, his theology is appalling.

Briefs

Briefs.

Philosophy of a Philanthropist

On the wall of philanthropist and humanitarian Richard Gunther\’s office hangs a photo of a man triumphantly standing atop a Western Nepal mountain peak.

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More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.