Ben-Tzion Spitz, at The Blogs

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Jul 8, 2018, 3:49 PM

Pinchas: Secret Jews

If most of us remain ignorant of ourselves, it is because self-knowledge is painful, and we prefer the pleasures of illusion. -Aldous Huxley During my years in Uruguay, I met multiple people who had discovered, some quite recently, that they...

Jun 27, 2018, 12:14 AM

Balak: Royal Frailty

Don't forget your great guns, which are the most respectable arguments of the rights of kings. -Frederick the Great The nation of Israel was nearing the end of their punishment of forty years of wandering in the desert. They were...

Jun 19, 2018, 6:55 AM

Chukat: Post-Sin Traumatic Stress Disorder

It's sin and not poverty that makes men miserable. -- Scottish Proverb The Jewish people demonstrate yet again why God calls them a stiff-necked people. Near the end of their 40 years of wandering in the desert, they complain needlessly....

Jun 13, 2018, 1:15 AM

Korach: The Posture of Prayer

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.-John Bunyan Jewish prayer is filled with a variety of different body positions and movements that to the uninitiated may seem confusing. We sit, we...

Jun 5, 2018, 10:07 PM

Shlach: A Father’s Responsibilities

One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters. -George Herbert The people of Israel had just been punished with a decree of forty years of wandering in the desert. After the people’s lack of faith following the spies evil report...

May 29, 2018, 11:53 AM

Behaalotcha: Managing Righteous Anger

Anyone can become angry - that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way; this is not easy. -Aristotle Miriam, Moses’...

May 22, 2018, 2:35 PM

Naso: Immortal Bulls

Higher than the question of our duration is the question of our deserving. Immortality will come to such as are fit for it, and he would be a great soul in future must be a great soul now. -Ralph Waldo...

May 14, 2018, 7:23 AM

Bamidbar: Fire, Water, Desert

Am I willing to give up what I have in order to be what I am not yet? Am I able to follow the spirit of love into the desert? It is a frightening and sacred moment. There is...

May 6, 2018, 11:03 PM

Bechukotai: Regretting Good

People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent. -- Bob Dylan There are two somewhat arcane commandments (among many) that always nagged me. I was always uncomfortable with them. I couldn’t make sense of them....

May 1, 2018, 11:11 AM

Behar: positive discrimination

It is often easier to become outraged by injustice half a world away than by oppression and discrimination half a block from home. -Carl Rowan Judaism is tribal. Its prime concern is for members of the tribe. Its laws, restrictions,...

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About Me

Ben-Tzion Spitz is the Chief Rabbi of Uruguay. He is the author of three books of Biblical Fiction and over 600 articles and stories dealing with biblical themes. Ben-Tzion is a graduate of Yeshiva University and received his Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University.