Steve has a Masters Degree in Jewish Education from Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles and a BA from UCLA. For the last 20 years he has managed support and training teams across Silicon Valley. In October 2017, Steve accompanied a 200-year-old Torah Scroll back to its ancestral home in Olomouc in the Czech Republic for the first time in 78 years. It was an amazing, historic, one-of-a kind adventure. Steve has blogged widely about the experience and is a recognized expert in the stories of the Olomouc Scroll and its sister scroll from Cheske Budejovice.
Honestly, before Sunday night, I’d never heard of Hannah Einbinder. Today i’m commenting about her and her ridiculous speech at the Emmys. “Separating Jews from Israel” can’t possibly be what you meant. It’s a nonsense statement. Israel and the Jewish people are inexorably intertwined. Maybe you misspoke and what you meant to say is that … More Who is Hannah Einbinder and why should I care?
I couldn’t help but think of the topic of boats sailing off the coast of Israel in times long ago, and also in recent weeks. In the last couple of weeks, we had the nefarious boat carrying Greta Thunberg and her “selfie flotilla” who certainly did not have Israel’s best interests at heart and thankfully … More Boats
“All of Israel is responsible one for the other” (Talmud Bavli, Shavuot 39a) As the horribly s***** news keeps flowing in over the last several hours about the murders of these 6 beautiful souls by Hamas terrorists, I’m struck by several things that I’m seeing. Everyone that I know seems to be concerned and are … More “Kol Yisrael Areivim Zeh Ba-Zeh”
Imagine being in the biggest crowd of Jews and other supporters of Israel that you have ever seen in your life. That was November 14, 2023 in Washington DC … More With 290,000 of my closest friends in Washington D.C.
I was at the Tikkun Leil Shavuot this week and the featured speakers were two Rabbinic students from Ziegler. The presentations were good but one of the students made a comment during the Q&A that I found absolutely astounding. He said that some of his Rabbinic classmates were, in his words, “dismissive” of Israel. I … More Dismissive of Israel? WTF?
Back in June, I had the pleasure of attending my cousin’s beautiful wedding in Tel Aviv. It was a glorious day full of joy and laughter and it was a real simcha. But all that kind of flipped for me, waking up the morning of October 7th and realizing what was happening in Israel. 1200 … More October 7th changed EVERYTHING for me!
Our dear friend Roman Gronsky was featured in an article in the Jerusalem Report this month on his efforts as a Masters Swimming Champion but more importantly, for the purposes of this blog, as the President on the Olomouc Jewish Community. He was instrumental in facilitating the return of the Torah Scroll in 2017 to … More Roman Gronsky: A Modern Maccabean Hero (Jerusalem Report, November 7, 2022)
Our dear friend from Olomouc, Rudolf Dub passed away on July 9, 2022. He was fondly remembered by his community and was also quite a character, described by people who knew him best! Zichrono Livracha … More Rudolf Dub, z’l
Following in the footsteps of Civil Rights Heros … More With Liberty and Justice For All?
What are your memories of that fateful day, 20 years ago? Mine are somewhat like yesterday, though the specifics are fading. … More 20 Years since 9-11: What a difference a few days makes?
The Tao of Steve 