Who Was Billy Wilder? Originally Published June 21-22, 2019.
Born Samuel Wilder on June 22, 1906, in Sucha, Galicia, Austria-Hungary, which is now Sucha Beskidzka, Malopolskie, Poland, Billy Wilder would go on to become a world-renowned filmmaker, director, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist. His parents ran a cafe in Sucha’s train station. His mother, grandmother, and stepfather would die in the Holocaust. His brother […]
What Is the Shekhinah? Originally Published June 14-15, 2019.
Deriving from the Hebrew for “presence,” Shekhinah has been used to indicate the presence of God in the world. Early on it was used in the Aramaic, “Shekhinta” (as found in Targum Onkelos), and was used as a substitute for a part of God — “you cannot see My face and live” would become “you […]
Torah Tidbits. Originally Published June 7-8, 2019.
Over the course of investigating for this column, miscellaneous points have jumped out. Here are some of them. The use of letters of the Hebrew alphabet to represent numbers is not found in the Bible. The first traces of it are found on Maccabean coins. Some persons honor a lifted Sefer Torah by holding one […]