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Showing posts from June, 2022

Parashat Shelach Lecha: Forty-titude

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I recall a joke that was making the rounds shortly after the election of the first President Bush (and which replayed when his son entered the White House): Q: Why didn't the Jews vote for Bush? A 'Because the last time we listened to a talking bush, we wandered around the desert for forty years! In the true style of Jewish humour, we make light of a tragic situation that, at the time, was anything but funny.   For the generation who had left Egypt with the dream of entering the Promised Land, Gd's edict, a result of the spies' negative report regarding their reconnaissance mission of the land was nothing less than shattering. On the face of it, Gd's decision to punish the Bnei Yisrael for forty years seems quite obvious: Numbers 14:34 You shall bear your punishment for forty years, corresponding to the number of days—forty days—that you scouted the land: a year for each day.   Thus, you shall know what it means to thwart Me.   If we look benea

Parashat Beha'alotecha: Heavenly Technology

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I am a geek. I have been a proud member of the world's ‘Unauthorised Society of Geeks’ for as long as I can recall.   My first job as a teenager was programming robotic arms at the ORT charity.   I graduated to working as a Project Manager at Jewish Care, running a day centre where we helped our visually impaired and disabled clients learn how to use computers.   And I've been teaching IT to high school students for over a decade. I think I can safely call myself a geek! Not only am I a proud breast-beating member of the UK's geek population, my wife works in IT and was in the first year to take O’ Level Computer Science in the UK!   I could paraphrase Monty Python by stating that 'I'm a geek and so is my wife', but I will hold back on that one.   The Oxford Dictionary defines a geek as being, ‘ a person who is very interested in and who knows a lot about a particular subject.’   A suitable synonym is 'nerd' and the icing on the cake is 'a co

Parashat Naso: Gifts fit for a Prince (or twelve)

On 23rd April 2020, a remarkable set of lists appeared on the Royal Family's official website (ww.royal.uk) It provided details of every official gift the members of the family had received whilst carrying out official duties during the previous year. Those honoured were the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, along with their children and the Duke of Kent.  Her Majesty the Queen received nearly seventy gifts, whilst her late husband was presented with only three! Some of the Queen's more unusual additions to the Royal Collection included: ○       a '24 carat gold-plated horse comb, entitled 'Golden Heritage - the comb on horse's harness' gifted by President Borut Pahor of the Republic of Slovenia in February.    ○       a 'Painting of a swimming pig of The Bahamas' from the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, Her Excellency Dame Marguerite Pindling in June.   ○       Three wood carvings of pygmy hippos which are native to the