A Question for Passover Ayecha – Where Are You?

Posted on Tuesday, 24, March, 2009Tuesday, 27, March, 2018 by Rabbi

Passover is coming fast. It is a time of questions and sometimes we need to look to ourselves for answers. The reading of the hagaddah during the Passover seder raises many questions on so many levels that many become very self aware.

What is the first question in the Bible?

Before man was created, there were no questions. The first question occurs in the Garden of Eden. The man and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. G-d calls out to them, “Ayecha?” “Where are you?”

How can that be? Does G-d not know where the man and Eve are? For centuries, the Jewish people have recognized that this question has a deeper meaning. G-d is not seeking to find the man and Eve. That is why they do not answer, “We are over here!” Instead, it is a question of spiritual geography. The man, understanding the importance of G-d’s question, answers that he was frightened, so he has been hiding.

That question is not only the first question; it is also the eternal question. At each moment in our lives, this question is addressed to us: Where are you? Where are you spiritually? Where are you morally? What have you done with your life, and what are you doing with it now? Are you proud of your conduct in the garden?

The first question is a single word, whose echoes are endless. “Ayecha?” – Where are you?

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

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Life has a Plain Wrapper

Posted on Thursday, 19, March, 2009Tuesday, 19, January, 2021 by Rabbi

So often one looks at the outer trappings of world and misses the deeper meaning of life. The physical beauty of the world often clouds the perception of what is good and wholesome. Major signs of change in T’NaCh (Bible) where often plain unassuming things:

burning bush to communicate to Moses
Mt. Sinai is a small low mountain
shepherd that become leaders (Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon, etc)

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So often one must try to understand the most basic, unattractive, plain things contain the meanings of the important aspects of their lives.

Once upon a time the daughter of the Emperor asked Rabbi Yoshua ben Chananiah, “Is it not very strange that there is so much Torah (scriptural learning) in you and you are so terribly ugly? So much wisdom in such a disgusting vessel!”

“Let me ask, where do you keep your wine? In what kind of vessels?” Rabbi Yoshua inquired. The daughter of the Emperor answered, “We keep our wine in simple earthenware vessels, because for many years past wine has always been kept in earthen vessels.”

Rabbi Yoshua suggested, “You are very wealthy people, you ought to keep your wine in vessels of silver only, the ordinary people keep it in earthen jars.” So she went and told the Emperor, who poured all the wine into silver jars. Within a short time the wine turned sour, and they reported to the Emperor that all his wine had turned into vinegar. Then the Emperor asked his daughter, “Who advised you to pour the wine into silver jars?” The princess replied, “Rabbi Yoshua ben Chananiah.” So the Emperor sent for Rabbi Yoshua and asked him, “Why did you give such advice to my daughter so that all my wine has turned to vinegar?” Rabbi Yoshua replied, “As she spoke to me so I spoke to her. She said to me, what a pity such great learning is in such a contemptible vessel. So I said to her, ‘Why do you keep wine in a cheap vessel?’ I also said that as the Torah does not stay with a man of handsome appearance, so wine does not keep in a silver vessel.” The Emperor said, “But there are many good looking men who possess learning.” Then Rabbi Yoshua replied, “If they were not so handsome they would be more learned still, for a man of handsome appearance is not a man of modesty, and therefore he forgets the Torah which he has learned.”

Based on Taanis 7a-b; Nedarim 50b and Ma’asah Book #35

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

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Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)

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Awesomely, Wonderfully Made

Posted on Monday, 16, March, 2009Wednesday, 22, August, 2018 by Rabbi

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One of the dangers of the modern worship of science is the belief that everything is reducible to something else. Nothing is great, grand, or mysterious. Everything comprises collections of invisible particles that together equal everything else, from the smallest microbe to complexity of the orbiting space station.

The reductionist view of the universe not only flattens our wonder of what is, but ultimately makes little sense. The world is far too complex, various, and enigmatic to admit of any simple property or explanation. Moreover, how can we be so sure that the mind, composed of the same simple matter, could understand both itself and the greater universe?

Man does not know the intricacies of the world around him, and that the end-purpose of knowing is to become aware that one does not know. In this way one says, “I will give thanks to You, for I am awesomely and wondrously made.” I am astonished at Your handiwork and am aware how “wondrous are Your works.” When I know enough to be astonished, then “my soul knows very well.” By being aware of its astonishment, the intellectual faculty comes to know a great deal.

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A view of life touched by faith encourages us to avoid complacency and certainty. Those are the two enemies of truth. Wonder, awe, and eagerness are its allies. As science advances and we see its great strides and accomplishments, let us have the humility to offer a prayer and humbly admit that we don’t understand the magnificence that shaped it.

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

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Torah the Best Merchandise

Posted on Wednesday, 11, March, 2009Thursday, 15, February, 2018 by Rabbi

Once upon a time a ship carrying merchants and all their goods sailed over the sea, and among the passengers was a teacher. The merchants began to talk about the wares which they carried with them, and what they intended to buy. Finally they asked the teacher what merchandise he had, and he answered: “I carry all my goods with me.” The merchants searched the whole ship for his wares, for they thought that he had precious stones, but they could find nothing. So they laughed at him and said that he had no merchandise at all. The teacher replied:

As they continued traveling on the high seas, they were attacked by pirates, who robbed them of all the merchandise which they had in the ship. When they landed, they found themselves quite poor and had nothing to eat or drink or any clothes to put on. The teacher, however, went into the town and entered the bet hamidrash (House of Study). When the people heard him speak wonders of Scriptures, they at once brought him clothes and gave him a large amount of money. The good people of the town also followed him out of the city.

When the merchants saw the great honor which was shown to the Jewish teacher, they begged his pardon for having laughed at him, and asked him to request the townspeople to give them something to eat so that they might not die of hunger, for he had seen that they had been robbed of their property. And the teacher replied:

“Did I not tell you that my merchandise was more valuable than yours? For you have lost your property, but mine is still with me. Furthermore, one who buys and sells does not always gain, sometimes he gains and sometimes he loses, and even when he gains he is not sure that the profit will remain with him, but the Torah remains forever, in this world and in the next. I was right, therefore, about the goods which I had with me.”

Tanhuma, Terumah, #2

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May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

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Purim: A Time of Joy

Posted on Monday, 9, March, 2009Monday, 9, March, 2020 by shana

My father is filled with surprises and I found in his files, and boy does he have a lot, this article that appeared in Panorama Magazine in March 1979

Purim: A Time of Joy

The importance of Purim as a holiday of deliverance from death has served as an inspiration to the Jewish people many times throughout history. Even in the death camps of nazi Europe there were those who had that spark of hope. No matter where the Jewish people were, there were always those who carried that hope – in the ghettoes, in the camps, and in the forests.

In the Warsaw ghetto, there was a journal of everyday events kept by Emmanuel Ringlblum. On the 18th of March 1940, he told of the feelings at the Purim celebrations in the Warsaw Ghetto:

In the concentration camps the nazis tried to destroy the Jewish people, not as a religious group, but as a physical threat to the Third Reich. The nazis saw the Jewish people as harmful to society, just as a doctor sees bacteria harmful to the health of people. So the nazis started out on a program to completely destroy the Jewish world, but that couldn’t be done.

Buchenwald, a concentration camp in Germany became the place where a young chasid, Yaakov Frankel, was sent. Many of the Jewish prisoners had lost faith and hope in Hashem. Yaakov Frankel and a. few friends decided to have small Purim celebration to lift up fallen spirits and restore faith and hope in Hashem.

From throughout the camp Frankel and his friends gathered all sorts of paper – a torn order from a nazi officer, a piece of a nazi newspaper with blank margins, or a coarse wrapping from a. bag of cement. After this collection of odds and ends was enough a great change took place. The scraps of paper slowly turned into the Megillah of Esther, Frankel and his friends using only one pencil wrote the megillah from their memories.

When the Fast of Esther was over on the night of Purim, all of the group gathered on the upper level of the block. A great number of less fortunate prisoners sensed that something was going to happen and they did not want to be left out. They declared:

The megillah was read at 11:00 pm to avoid the suspicions of the many nazi guards. Finally the reading of Megillas Esther began, the brachah al mikrah MegIllah could not be said because of the many different kinds of paper on which the megillah was written. The reading of the megillah changed many of the hearts of the oppressed prisoners and restored their faith in Hashem and their hopes for survival were renewed. After the reading of Megillas Esther all the men sang Shoshanas Yaakov.

The Jewish people have something that is so beautiful and yet many take it for granted. What right have we to forget these precious gifts, the very thing that made our people survive the fires and destruction of Hitler’s hell? Instead of forgetting about our very recent past let us forget the Amalekite hitler as we drown out the name of his ancestor Haman

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

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The Gift of Friendship

Posted on Friday, 6, March, 2009Tuesday, 18, October, 2011 by Rabbi

Is there a blessing greater than good friends? “Either friends or death,” declares the Talmud (Ta’anis, 23a). The sages teach that isolation is unfaithful to G-d’s plan. People need one another to thrive.

The TNaCh (Scriptures) teaches us about deep friendships: Jonathan and David’s, Ruth and Naomi’s. Each demonstrates the depth of true friendship, which involves not only love but also the willingness of one to make sacrifices for the interests of the other. Friendship is described as “Lovely and pleasant in their lives, even in death they were not divided (II Samuel 1:23). True friendship is not selfish and does not disappear when a friend is in trouble. No wonder the supermodels love cheap online levitra it so much. If you ever find any of its symptoms in you on regular djpaulkom.tv cialis 10 mg basis. So, it is imperative to cialis pill cost maintain hygiene by washing your penis thoroughly with water before and after you indulge in sexual intercourse. Erectile dysfunction can 5mg generic cialis also occur in young males to puffing several cigarettes a day. Who does not understand the ways of false friends as expressed by ben Sira when he taught, “there is a friend who is only one in name” (Apocrypha ben Sira 37:1).

Real friends will prove themselves in time of trouble (Moshe ibn Ezra in. 12^th C) Deep friendship is mysterious. It is not always based on a same interests or a similarity of goals. King Solomon explained, “There are friends that one has to his own heart, but there is a friend that sticks closer that a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24)

Moshe ibn Ezra said in his 12^th century book Shiras Yisra-l that “[f]riendship is man’s greatest gift.” Sometimes it’s hard to recognize the value of true friendship, but the Mishle Benyomin summed it up as, “Friendship is like a treasury, you cannot take from it more than you put into it. One the most magnificent gifts offered by our tradition is this distinctive and lasting love, the friend.

The Prayer of the Religious Man and the General

Posted on Sunday, 1, March, 2009Sunday, 4, March, 2018 by Rabbi

We are taught that even if a man is greeted by the king while praying, he may not return the greeting. And even if a snake is wound around his heel, he may not interrupt his prayer.

Once upon a time a religious man was walking across a field when the time for prayer arrived. So he stood still and began to pray. As he was praying, a general came along riding on horseback and greeted him. But the religious man did not return the greeting and remained silent. The general waited until he had finished his prayers, then he said to him: “You scoundrel, why did you not return my greeting?

Is it not written in your Torah, “Take utmost care, and watch yourself scrupulously” (Deut. 4:9), and also, “Be most careful about yourselves” (Deut. 4:15)? Why, then, when I greeted you, did you not return my greeting?

If I should cut your head off, who would say anything to me?” The religious man replied: “Pray, listen to my answer.” And he began as follows: “Dear Sir, if you were standing before a human king of flesh and blood and speaking to him, and another man came along and addressed you, would you answer him?” The general replied: “No, I would not answer him.” Then the pious man continued: “And suppose you did answer him, what do you think would happen to you?” And the general replied: “I would be afraid that the king might have my head cut off.”

The pious man replied: “Behold now, if standing before a king of flesh and blood who lives today and tomorrow he is dead, you would be afraid of having your head cut off, how much more should I have been afraid, standing as I was before a king who is called the King above all Kings, who is not a being of flesh and blood, who lives forever and does not pass away! How, then, could I have answered your greeting? I had to fear that in His anger, He might have killed me.” When the general heard how well the pious man had answered, he was well pleased with him and said to him : “You have answered me very well.” So the religious man returned home in peace. Therefore, every person should say his prayers with proper devotion, and no evil will happen to him.

Based on B. Ber 32b-33a, Ma’asah Book #130

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

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Rights of Jewish Women

Posted on Wednesday, 25, February, 2009Wednesday, 2, August, 2023 by Rabbi

The accusation is thrown as a spear, “women in the religious Jewish community are treated like second-class citizens.” The claim is made by those outside of the community who have no understanding of the Jewish way of life.

A young woman once asked, “How can you tell such beautiful stories, yet accept the mistreatment of women?” The answer, on my part, was easy, Jewish law does not condone such behavior. Unfortunately, society sets the norms and standards, and they are many times in opposition to religious beliefs.

As an example, I reference a responsa (rabbinic legal decision) found in the Cairo Geniza (repository of Jewish documents) dated 1216, answering a petition of a woman to the rabbinic court:

“What is the legal opinion of our master and teacher Abraham ben Moshe ben Maimon, the paramount Rav, the leader of our generation, the light of the world – may his glory be enhanced – about this: a man has traveled to the land of India and remained there for about fifteen years. Before setting out on his journey he had appointed his wife as his legal representative. She maintains herself and her two daughters by the work of her hands.

Recently a Jewish man arrived from Aden and was questioned by another Jewish man who asked him about the man who had traveled to India. The Jew who had arrived from Aden said: we have heard that he traveled to Fansur (Sumatra) and died in Fansur and that the ruler of that country had taken his property.

Can the wife on the basis of this testimony marry again? How much of the property of her late husband is she permitted to take for herself?

According to the Torah and Jewish law, the daughters, not she, are the legal heirs. But since she has maintained herself and her children for fifteen years, which was the duty of the husband, she is clearly entitled to remuneration of the living costs for this long period.”

Reading this legal decision some questions come to mind:

What rights did a Jewish woman have in medieval Egypt?
Could a woman, in general, have standing before a court?
What role did Jewish women play in business?

When read carefully one sees that Jewish women had many rights in the community that were not shared in other communities.

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

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Looking Beyond Ourselves

Posted on Sunday, 22, February, 2009Monday, 19, September, 2022 by Rabbi

Two constant questions in Jewish history: What is our obligation to other Jewish people? What is our obligation to the world at large?

Rav Avraham Yitzchok Kook, zal answers that the two are inseparable: “Love for Klal Yisrael (the Jewish people) implies the love for humanity.” Yet we see so often an emphasis on love of scholars and those in our community, while forgetting those who are not Jewish. We learn in Avos deRabbi Nosan that we should “teach not the love of scholars only, but the love of all.”

Some equate one’s level of religious observance with the love of the Holy One, blessed be He. This is sad, because many become so involved in their religious studies, ritual and observances that it all becomes mechanical. Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berdichev taught, “Whether a man really loves G-d can be determined by the love he bears towards his fellow man.”

One must take their religious practices beyond the academic and intellectual phase into action. One who truly follows the teachings of the Scriptures fine tunes their beliefs which becomes their lifestyle. We should strive to be of the disciples of Aaron, one who loves peace and pursues it, who loves all men and brings them close to Torah (Avos 1:12)

Among the birds deemed non-kosher in the Bible is a bird called the chasidah (Leviticus 11:19). Remarking on the strange name, Rashi writes that the name chasidah comes from chesed, “kindness.” Why kindness? Because this particular bird acts kindly toward its kin.

Some eight hundred years after Rashi, the Kotzker rebbe asks, “If the chasidah is kind toward its kin, why is it unkosher?” His answer: “To be kosher, you have to be kind not only to your own kin but to all.”

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

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Look Favorably on Another

Posted on Tuesday, 17, February, 2009Tuesday, 4, June, 2024 by Rabbi

We speak and learn so much about religion, values, prayer, and ritual, yet forget the important aspects of faith. To live by the standards established in the holy words of the T’NaCh (Scriptures). We should look upon all around us favorably and give them the benefit of the doubt.

Once upon a time, a religious man ransomed a beautiful woman from imprisonment, and when they came to the inn in the evening, he put the young woman to sleep at the foot of his bed. In the morning, he immersed himself in the purifying waters, and then he went to teach his students. While he was teaching them, he asked his students, “Did you suspect me of anything last night when you saw the young maiden lying at the foot of my bed?” They answered, “We did not suspect you of anything; we thought that you put her near you because you had among your students one whom you did not know, and you would not let her sleep in a separate room for fear that harm might come to her.”

Then the religious man asked, “Why did you think I went in the morning and immersed in the purifying waters?”

“What else do you believe we could have thought,” replied his students, “except that probably on the way you had touched something unclean, which made it necessary for you to immerse in the purifying waters?”

Then he said, “I swear that it was exactly as you thought. And as for you – as you judged me on the scale of merit, so may He who is everywhere judge you on the scale of merit.

We learn “You shall not unjustly judge… with justice you shall judge your neighbor..” (Lev. 19:15). The classic commentators explain this to mean “judge your fellowman favorably and interpret his actions and words only to the good.” (Sefer HaChinuch 235)

Based on B. Shabbos 127b and Ma’asah Book #21

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

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Rachmiel Tobesman is a motivational speaker and Maggid (spiritual Storyteller). He is available for speaking engagements or storytelling, Click here to contact us

Passover is coming fast. It is a time of questions and sometimes we need to look to ourselves for answers. The reading of the hagaddah during the Passover seder raises many questions on so many levels that many become very self aware.

What is the first question in the Bible?

Before man was created, there were no questions. The first question occurs in the Garden of Eden. The man and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. G-d calls out to them, “Ayecha?” “Where are you?”

The first question is a single word, whose echoes are end­less. “Ayecha?” – Where are you?

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)

If the stories are not shared they will be lost.

Please share this story with family and friends and let us know what you think or feel about the stories in a comment or two. Like us on Facebook or tweet us on Twitter

Please share this story with others

So often one looks at the outer trappings of world and misses the deeper meaning of life. The physical beauty of the world often clouds the perception of what is good and wholesome. Major signs of change in T’NaCh (Bible) where often plain unassuming things:

burning bush to communicate to Moses

Mt. Sinai is a small low mountain

shepherd that become leaders (Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon, etc)

So often one must try to understand the most basic, unattractive, plain things contain the meanings of the important aspects of their lives.

Once upon a time the daughter of the Emperor asked Rabbi Yoshua ben Chananiah, “Is it not very strange that there is so much Torah (scriptural learning) in you and you are so terribly ugly? So much wisdom in such a disgusting vessel!”

“Let me ask, where do you keep your wine? In what kind of vessels?” Rabbi Yoshua inquired. The daughter of the Emperor answered, “We keep our wine in simple earthen­ware vessels, because for many years past wine has always been kept in earthen vessels.”

Based on Taanis 7a-b; Nedarim 50b and Ma’asah Book #35

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)

Rachmiel Tobesman is a motivational speaker and Maggid (spiritual Storyteller). He is available for speaking engagements or storytelling, Click here to contact us

Please share this story with family and friends and let us know what you think or feel about the stories in a comment or two.

If the stories are not shared they will be lost.

Rabbi Avraham ibn Daud in 12th century Spain observed that, “There are many who have dabbled a little in science, and….since in such men the light of investigation has extinguished the light of belief, the multitude think it dangerous, and shrink from it.”

Emunah Rama (1168)

King David understood this and wrote in the Psalms, “I will give thanks to You, for I am awesomely and wondrously made; wondrous are Your works; and that my soul knows very well.”

Psalms 139:14

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)

New – Listen to the stories every Wednesday evening on the Story Tour Podcast on

Google Play or ITunes

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If the stories are not shared they will be lost.

Please share this story with others

“Why are you laughing at me? The goods which I carry are of greater value than any which you have in the ship’s hold.”

Tanhuma, Terumah, #2

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)

If the stories are not shared they will be lost.

Please share this story with family and friends and let us know what you think or feel about the stories in a comment or two. Like us on Facebook or tweet us on Twitter

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My father is filled with surprises and I found in his files, and boy does he have a lot, this article that appeared in Panorama Magazine in March 1979

Purim: A Time of Joy

In the Warsaw ghetto, there was a journal of everyday events kept by Emmanuel Ringlblum. On the 18th of March 1940, he told of the feelings at the Purim celebrations in the Warsaw Ghetto:

“There were assemblies in celebration of Purim this year. People hope for a new Purim to celebrate the downfall of the modern Haman, Hitler, one that will be commemorated as long as the Jewish People exist. The new Purim will surpass all previous Purims in Jewish History.”

When the Fast of Esther was over on the night of Purim, all of the group gathered on the upper level of the block. A great number of less fortunate prisoners sensed that something was going to happen and they did not want to be left out. They declared:

“We too want to avenge the innocent blood of our families on the wicked Haman. Whatever you are up to don’t leave us out!”

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)

Rachmiel Tobesman is a motivational speaker and Maggid (spiritual Storyteller). He is available for speaking engagements or storytelling, Click here to contact us

Please share this story with family and friends and let us know what you think or feel about the stories in a comment or two. Like us on Facebook or tweet us on Twitter

If the stories are not shared they will be lost.

Please share this story with others

Is there a blessing greater than good friends? “Either friends or death,” declares the Talmud (Ta’anis, 23a). The sages teach that isolation is unfaithful to G-d’s plan. People need one another to thrive.

We are taught that even if a man is greeted by the king while praying, he may not return the greeting. And even if a snake is wound around his heel, he may not interrupt his prayer.

Is it not written in your Torah, “Take utmost care, and watch yourself scrupulously” (Deut. 4:9), and also, “Be most careful about yourselves” (Deut. 4:15)? Why, then, when I greeted you, did you not return my greeting?

Based on B. Ber 32b-33a, Ma’asah Book #130

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)

If the stories are not shared they will be lost.

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The accusation is thrown as a spear, “women in the religious Jewish community are treated like second-class citizens.” The claim is made by those outside of the community who have no understanding of the Jewish way of life.

As an example, I reference a responsa (rabbinic legal decision) found in the Cairo Geniza (repository of Jewish documents) dated 1216, answering a petition of a woman to the rabbinic court:

Can the wife on the basis of this testimony marry again? How much of the property of her late husband is she permitted to take for herself?

According to the Torah and Jewish law, the daughters, not she, are the legal heirs. But since she has maintained herself and her children for fifteen years, which was the duty of the husband, she is clearly entitled to remuneration of the living costs for this long period.”

Reading this legal decision some questions come to mind:

What rights did a Jewish woman have in medieval Egypt?

Could a woman, in general, have standing before a court?

What role did Jewish women play in business?

When read carefully one sees that Jewish women had many rights in the community that were not shared in other communities.

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)

Rachmiel Tobesman is a motivational speaker and Maggid (spiritual Storyteller). He is available for speaking engagements or storytelling, Click here to contact us

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If the stories are not shared they will be lost.

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Two constant questions in Jewish history: What is our obligation to other Jewish people? What is our obligation to the world at large?

Among the birds deemed non-kosher in the Bible is a bird called the chasidah (Leviticus 11:19). Remarking on the strange name, Rashi writes that the name chasidah comes from chesed, “kindness.” Why kindness? Because this particular bird acts kindly toward its kin.

Some eight hundred years after Rashi, the Kotzker rebbe asks, “If the chasidah is kind toward its kin, why is it unkosher?” His answer: “To be kosher, you have to be kind not only to your own kin but to all.”

May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)

The first question is a single word, whose echoes are endless. “Ayecha?” – Where are you?

“Let me ask, where do you keep your wine? In what kind of vessels?” Rabbi Yoshua inquired. The daughter of the Emperor answered, “We keep our wine in simple earthenware vessels, because for many years past wine has always been kept in earthen vessels.”

Rabbi Avraham ibn Daud in 12^th century Spain observed that, “There are many who have dabbled a little in science, and….since in such men the light of investigation has extinguished the light of belief, the multitude think it dangerous, and shrink from it.”