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Judaism
ASK THE RABBI
Looking for answers? Send your question to Rabbi@RabbiSchochet.com
AREN’T WE ALL SINNERS?
Dear Rabbi
I was especially intrigued by your remarks in last week’s column regarding the tragic story in Israel. My question is, inasmuch as someone is suspected of doing wrong; do we all have the right to condemn him? Aren’t we all guilty of doing things wrong? Aren’t we all living in glass houses? What right do we have to throw stones?
Gideon
Dear Gideon
You are right that no one is infallible. The verse itself declares, “There is none righteous on earth who has done only good and never sinned.” But even you will agree there are some sins that are deemed more severe than others. After all, in the Torah, some sins are punishable by a slap on the wrist while others warrant the death penalty. Moreover, as I observed in detail last week, when someone is actively harming others, we have a Biblical obligation to stop them at all costs. Finally, inasmuch as prison is not something sanctioned in the first instance in Jewish law (corporal punishment and restitution is more appropriate and effective), nevertheless, there are some exceptions, one of them being if one is a repeat offender or deemed a threat to society.
As you mentioned, “someone suspected” allow me to clarify the story I relayed last week about the Chafetz Chaim, that seems to have been misunderstood. He was being accused of theft in some trumped up charge. His lawyer told the judge, “Can you imagine someone like this man stealing? They say he once chased after a thief who stole from him, yelling, ‘I forgive you!’” The judge asked this lawyer, “Do you really believe he chased after someone yelling that?” To which the lawyer retorted, “Whether I believe it or not is irrelevant. One thing is certain, they don’t tell such stories about you and me.” In other words, the fact such a story is told about the Chafetz Chaim speaks to his impeccable character.
But the same can apply in the reverse. Even as one is only “suspected” about doing wrong; they don’t suspect or allege such things about you and me. In simpler terms, where there’s smoke there’s fire. And in this instance there was a lot more than smoke. I hope that clarifies.
A TRIAL SEPARATION
Dear Rabbi
I’ve been married for several years but there seems to be so many tensions at the moment. I wonder what the Jewish perspective is on a trial separations.
Emily
Dear Emily
The Talmud famously states that it is as difficult before G-d, so-to-speak to bring two people together as it was for Him to split the sea upon the Jewish nation’s exodus from Egypt. There are any number of explanations as to the particular comparison to the splitting of the sea. At a basic level, the sea splitting is something completely contrary to the nature of water. So too, in marriage, we need to learn to really go out of our way for one another, split seas if we have to, even if that doesn’t come naturally to us. However, and here’s the point, G-d’s involvement by the splitting of the sea was required twice over. Once when splitting the sea. But being that everything He does has permanence, no less a miracle was bringing the waters back together again. Indeed once there is a rift, a split, a trial separation – call it what you will - the objective of reconciliation can be just as formidable a task. Do yourselves a favour and go for therapy. It’s far more productive and you work on your end goals together.
NO BUSINESS LIKE SHUL BUSINESS
Dear Rabbi
There was a big argument at a recent board meeting at my synagogue. The end result is that several people are presently not talking to each other. These are the same people who, up until then, worked together towards the common good of the community. How does one bring about reconciliation?
Jaydon
Dear Jaydon
Take this page out of the paper, print off some copies and leave the following lying on the seats this Shabbat morning.
Two friends were walking through the desert when one reached out to the other & slapped him. The stunned friend didn’t say a word but immediately wrote in the sand: Today my best friend slapped me. As they walked on they found an oasis from which they went to quench their thirst. The one friend fell in and started to drown while the other reached for him and managed to save him. The grateful friend immediately wrote on a stone: Today my best friend saved me!
The friend who had first slapped and thereafter saved him asked: Why did you record the slap in the sand and the saving on stone? To which his friend replied, “When someone hurts you, you know it’s just his ugly side rearing itself – but it’s not really him. Write it down in sand where the winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But when someone does something good for you that his true essence expressing itself – that is the innate goodness contained within the inner chambers of the pristine soul - we must engrave it in stone where nothing can ever erase it!”
Can you envisage how much more our individual interpersonal relationships would be enhanced if more of us assumed that mind-set? Can you picture how much more wonderful communal life would be if everyone took on such an approach? Can you imagine how much more beautiful our world would look if we all embraced such an attitude?
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Pirkei Avot
ַחוֹנְו ,שׁאֹרְל לַק יֵוֱה ,רֵמוֹא לאֵעָמְשִׁי יִבַּר םָדָאָה לָכּ תא לֵבַּקְמ יֵוֱהו ,תרֹחְשִׁתְל :הָחְמִשְׂבּ
Rabbi Ishmael said: be suppliant to a superior, submissive under compulsory service, and receive every man happily.
Batenura explains the Mishna’s apparently simple words in a deeper layer of meaning. In front of a great sage who sits at the head of the yeshiva, one must train themselves to be yielding and nimble to do his bidding and to serve in front of him. On the contrary, to a young man whose hair is black, you do not need to make yourself so nimble, but rather stand in front of him at ease and self-collected.
“Across from” every person - whether an elder or a youth - stand with joy. “Across from” is translated [into Aramaic] as kabal. Another explanation is: “Be yielding to a head (which also means beginning)” - at your beginning, when you are a young man, be nimble to do the will of your Creator. And in your old age, when your face has blackened because of age, be pleasant to Him.
We must remember that when Reb Yehudah Hanasi (Rebi) wrote the Mishnah, back in a world without computers, he had to be extremely concise with his collections of Halachot, just to make sure the points got across. The deeper layers of meaning were debated over by sages become famously known as the Talmud. Thanks to the brilliant commentators we have had down the line, including the Batenura here and of course such great like? Rashi and the Chafetz Chaim, we mere mortals can have some small grasp of the complexity of brilliantly woven layers of Torah that descended from Sinai through Moshe himself, direct from Hashem. What would Judaism be like without the Oral Torah? The Karaites who don’t believe in it, sit in darkness and freezing temperatures each shabbat, just as their ideas and false beliefs blinded and froze their souls.
Dedicated in memory of Tova bas Chayim Hillel Monis and Meir Shimon ben Avrohom Yakov Perek 3: Mishna 12
Torah from Israel
Yitro: Trust Me. Trust is a Good Thing
BY RABBI MOSHE TARAGIN
The crossing of the sea and the delivery of the Torah are each monumental events in Jewish history. As we crossed a swirling ocean Hashem’s awesome power was on clear display. As we stood beneath a billowing mountain hearing the divine voice, Hashem’s word was finally delivered to a human audience. Stylistically, it would make sense for these two stories to be read together, side-by side. Surprisingly they are not.
For some reason, the Torah inserts “intervening” stories, between these two great events. These seemingly trivial stories feel anticlimactic and they deflate the energy of the crossing of the sea. In these stories, we read about Moshe’s ongoing efforts to feed a massive nation in a barren desert. We witness a heartwarming reunion between Moshe and his family, who have been ferried back by Moshe’s father-in-law. Evidently, the outstanding events atop Sinai cannot proceed before these storylines about Moshe are detailed.
The religious traditions of Sinai are pivoted upon Moshe’s credibility. This man, alone ascended heaven, and delivered the word of G-d to a human assembly stationed below. The foundations of our faith are premised upon the texts Moshe delivered and interpretations of that text which he performed. If his integrity is suspect the entire process will crash. For Har Sinai to commence, Moshe must first earn the trust of the people. Without this trust faith will not survive.
Each of these introductory stories, establish Moshe’s credibility. By providing food and water to a starving nation, he earns their loyalty. Watching Moshe spearhead the victory against violent Amalek warriors, builds even more national trust. Subsequently, we observe Moshe’s packed schedule: from early dawn to late at night he tirelessly mediates quarrels. When he isn’t busy arbitrating disputes, he patiently counsels a young nation about life and the “ways of G-d.”
Meeting Moshe’ s family lends him even greater credibility. Even the most charismatic leader is transparent to his own family. No man is a hero to his children or to his spouse. Seeing Moshe as a father and a husband, and not just as a miracle maker, makes him more human and more believable. Moshe has now earned the trust of an entire people and, at this stage, Sinai can commence.
Trust is the cornerstone of faith and of religious tradition. Very little, if anything, about religious belief is scientifically verifiable. Faith is based upon our embracing truths delivered to us from previous generations, who themselves accepted these traditions from their ancestors. If we can’t trust the source, the transmission will collapse. Thousands of years later we still trust the man who ascended a burning mountain and we live the faith he taught us. Likewise, we trust our parents and teachers who lovingly passed along these truths across the generations.
Trust is also vital for healthy relationships. Solid and lasting relationships are always built upon communication. Trust allows us to more honestly and openly communicate with each other. Additionally, successful relationships demand “conflict navigation” and forgiveness. It is easier to forgive those whose intentions we intuitively trust. Cultivating trusting and secure relationships is crucial for our emotional well-being.
Finally, successful communities cannot be constructed without unity of purpose and mutual trust. If we trust others to act morally we, ourselves are more likely to behave selflessly toward common good. While the legal system may protect against crime, it cannot fashion communities of compassion, collaboration and commitment. These must be built voluntarily based upon mutual trust. Law is “impositional”, communities must be voluntary.
Recently, the Jewish world has been rocked by scandal, and is currently struggling through a crisis of trust. Terrible crimes of abuse have been perpetrated and thankfully, have been broadly and loudly condemned. These terrible crimes have raised greater awareness about the danger of sexual predation and other forms of exploitation. In response, communities, schools, and synagogues are crafting important guidelines to protect ourselves and our children from all forms of abuse. Included in these guidelines are warnings about the danger of naïve or unconditional trust- especially toward public figures. This is a crucial message, but one which we better get right. The terminology we employ and the tone of this conversation will impact our religious identity and shape our communities. We must be precise and judicious about how we discuss “trust”. We must be sensitive not to diminish the importance of living our life with trust. We are standing at a delicate precipice….
Human beings always self-inflict great harm when they overreact to threat or fear. Napoleon’s ruthless and belligerent regime was an overreaction to the French revolution. The rise of Nazism was, in part an overreaction to the wounded German pride after the surrender of WWI. Markets overreact to negative financial reports, sending stocks into dizzying freefall. Overreaction often ruins relationships and reputations. We have learned the dangers of a cytokine storm, when the body’s immune system overreacts to infection. Beware the perilous effects of disproportionate reactions, for they are often more hazardous than the initial threat.
In our attempts to caution against blind trust in leaders, we must not react disproportionately. The horrendous crimes must be loudly condemned and there must be zero tolerance for any abuse. Additionally, we must adopt aggressive guidelines to insure against further exploitation.
Here is where it gets tricky. Can we successfully caution against blind trust, while still upholding the overall value of trust in general? If our message isn’t nuanced it will be distorted and misinterpreted as a denunciation of any form of trust. Will we all become distrustful people?
Sadly, we live in an age of distrust. Scandals always existed, but in the age of social media and public voyeurism we are exposed to them more frequently. We have witnessed a lineup of celebrities, politicians, and other public figures who have behaved dishonestly, committed grievous crimes and violated our public trust. If we further cultivate an attitude of distrust, it will weaken our ability to transmit our faith and its traditions. If we foster suspicion what will become of our personal relationships, which already bear the strain of internet addiction and the static of social media? How can we build cohesive and embracing communities if we fail to believe in each other? Worse, than any of these consequences is the potential fall into a life of cynicism. There is a thin line between caution and cynicism and we best not cross it. If, in our attempt to avoid the vulnerabilities of naiveté, we become cynical and pessimistic, we will have forfeited our better selves, thereby multiplying the “casualties” of these crimes. Eric Hoffer, an American philosopher wrote “Someone who thinks the world is always cheating him is right. He is missing that wonderful feeling of trust in someone or something.” Trust is a wonderful feeling and we better not lose it.
This is an opportunity to positively affirm the value of trust in our lives, while carefully discriminating between those who deserves our trust and those who does not. This is an opportunity to probe the limits of trust, even in honest people who we have faith in. This is the time for refined conversation not simplistic slogans. This is a time for trust, not for distrust.
The writer is a rabbi at Yeshivat Har Etzion/ Gush, a hesder yeshiva. He has smicha and a BA in computer science from Yeshiva University as well as a masters degree in English literature from the City University of New York.
Weekly Dvar Torah
FROM ERETZ YISRAEL Seeking G-d, Then and Now
BY RABBANIT SALLY MAYER
Moshe’s father-in-law, Yitro, travels to the desert to meet Moshe and celebrates with him over the great salvation of the Jewish people. The next morning, Yitro finds Moshe sitting in front of a long line of his people, who are waiting all day for their turn to ask him their questions. Yitro tells Moshe that this cannot work and proposes a solution: set up a system of judges, using lower courts to deal with minor or simple cases, and let the challenging cases come to you. This way, Moshe will not be overworked, and the people won’t waste all day standing on line. Moshe implements this plan, and all is well. However, we must ask ourselves – is this not an obvious idea? How could Moshe not have thought to set up such a system?
Moshe’s answer to Yitro when asked why he is doing things this way can help us understand his reasoning: “For the nation comes to me lidrosh Elokim,” to seek G-d (Shemot 18:15). To Moshe, these are not simply questions that need to be answered – may I ride my donkey on Shabbat, who is responsible if my neighbor’s child broke the tambourine I used after the splitting of the sea, or where can I find my lost sundial. These are opportunities to encounter Hashem, and Moshe wants the people to have as direct a relationship with G-d as possible. When they see Moshe turn and ask Hashem a question, they see how each law in the Torah comes from Him. When they hear that Hashem revealed to Moshe where they can find their lost object, they see Hashem’s direct involvement in their lives. This is what Moshe wants for the people, so he can’t imagine doing it any other way. Yitro understands this noble idea, but gently convinces Moshe that it cannot work, as ultimately people will tire of waiting all day, and you won’t be able to keep up with the workload either.
We read of a similar exchange between Hashem and Moshe surrounding the revelation at Har Sinai. In our parasha, the people are terrified to hear G-d’s voice, and they ask Moshe to be the intermediary for them, to transmit His message (Shemot 20:15). When the story is recounted in Devarim 5, we hear that Hashem reassured Moshe that this was a good thing, implying that Moshe was disappointed by the request. Hashem tells Moshe that it would be wonderful if the people maintain this fear of G-d, as it will help them keep the mitzvot ongoingly throughout their lives.
Moshe has high aspirations for his people – he wants them to hear G-d’s voice directly, and to be able to get their questions answered straight from the Source. While in each case, he accepts that this ideal is not necessarily practical, there is a great deal that we can learn from Moshe’s goals for us. When we learn Torah, we are hearing G-d’s voice, and using not only our minds but connecting to Hashem and His Torah with our hearts and souls. When we ask questions in halacha, we are seeking Hashem’s guidance in how to live our lives, and when we pray, we are asking for His mercy and involvement in our world. Even today, we are being “doresh Elokim,” seeking G-d, as Moshe encouraged us to do all along.
Rabbanit Sally Mayer serves as Rosh Midrasha at Ohr Torah Stone’s Midreshet Lindenbaum in Jerusalem. She is a member of the Mizrachi Speakers Bureau (www.mizrachi.org/speakers).
Yitro Sidra Summary
1ST ALIYA (KOHEN) – SHEMOT 18:1-12
Yitro, Moshe’s father-in-law and a Midianite priest, hears about the miraculous Exodus from Egypt. He comes to meet Moshe in the desert, together with his daughter Tziporah (Moshe’s wife) and Moshe’s two sons. Moshe greets Yitro and relates to him what has happened to the Israelites. Yitro and Moshe bring offerings.
Point to Consider: What is the etymology of the name Yitro? (see Rashi to 18:1)
2ND ALIYA (LEVI) – 18:13-23
According to Rashi’s commentary, the narrative now skips forward to an incident after the giving of the Torah. Moshe is busy making halachic rulings from morning to evening. Concerned that this is too much for Moshe, Yitro advises him to set up an alternative system of judging the people, involving the appointment of a cascading system of judges. Only the major issues would be brought directly to Moshe for his judgement. “G-d spoke all these words, saying: I am the L-rd, your G-d, Who has taken you out of the land of Egypt…”
(Shemot 20:1-2)
3RD ALIYA (SHLISHI) – 18:24-27
Moshe accepts Yitro’s advice and appoints judges over subgroups of 1000, 100, 50 and 10 people. Yitro returns to Midian.
4TH ALIYA (REVI’I) – 19:1-6
The narrative switches back to Rosh Chodesh Sivan, one and a half months after the Exodus, prior to the giving of the Torah. The people travel from Refidim and arrive in the Sinai Desert. Moshe ascends Mount Sinai. G-d tells Moshe to inform the people that if they listen to His voice and keep His covenant, they will become “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”.
5TH ALIYA (CHAMISHI) – 19:7-19:19
The people agree to G-d’s offer. G-d tells Moshe to instruct the people to wash their clothing, refrain from marital relations (Rashi) and not to approach the mountain for the next three days. Moshe relays this to the nation. G-d’s Presence descends onto the mountain; there is thunder, lightning and shofar blasts; the mountain is covered in smoke.
6TH ALIYA (SHISHI) – 19:20-20:14
G-d ‘descends’ upon Mount Sinai and Moshe ascends again. G-d once again tells Moshe to warn the people not to approach the mountain. After Moshe descends, G-d speaks the Ten Commandments: 1. Faith in G-d’s existence 2. Prohibition of idol worship 3. Prohibition of taking G-d’s Name in vain 4. Remembering Shabbat to keep it holy and refraining from ‘work’ 5. Honouring one’s parents
You shall not: 6. Murder 7. Commit adultery 8. Steal 9. Bear false testimony 10. Covet what others have
7TH ALIYA (SHEVI’I) – 20:15-23
Trembling from this awesome experience, the people retreat and ask Moshe to be a go-between, instead of G-d speaking to them directly, lest they die. Moshe reassures them. G-d tells Moshe to warn the nation not to carve certain images (see Rashi). The commandment is given to build a designated altar upon which offerings to G-d should be brought.
HAFTARAH
The prophet Yeshaya sees a vision of the heavenly court, occupied by G-d and His angels. Whilst the angels assure Yeshaya that he is personally free of sin, G-d tells him to warn the people of their eventual exile, due to their stubbornness and iniquities. The evil king Achaz ascends the throne; he will be shown Divine mercy in order to save his righteous son, the future king Chizkiyahu.
Yitro: G-d Didn’t Just Take Us Out Of Egypt
BY GAVRIEL COHN
In this week’s Torah portion, G-d gives the most important commandment of all, the first of the famed Ten Commandments, “I am the L-rd your G-d who took you out of the land of Egypt, the house of slavery.”
Why does G-d describe Himself as the one who took us out of Egypt? Surely, as one medieval French commentator, R’ Yosef Bechor Shor, probed, writing with a great poetic flourish, “G-d could have proclaimed, ‘I am the L-rd Who formed you and created you... Who covered you in bones and sinews, cloaked you in skin and flesh, life and kindness I did for you; at My hands are death and life, reward and punishment; I feed and sustain you... Endless are the arguments G-d could have made for us to observe His laws and to serve Him,” so why does G-d simply proclaim that He “took us out of Egypt”?
Many answers are given, and indeed the momentous national-historical event of the Exodus serves as Judaism’s central demonstration of divine power and glory. However, there may be another reason why G-d chose to describe Himself as the one “who took you out of the Land of Egypt,” a more personal, even psychological explanation.
In one of his books, American neurologist and author, Harold Klawans, described a human phenomenon that he thought “happens to everyone but remains unmentioned in any neurology book or journal I have ever read” (although researchers have since picked up on this phenomenon). Klawans continued, “you put on a tie in the morning, the collar feels tight around your neck. Half an hour later you can’t feel it at all. It’s as if it’s disappeared. Why? Tolerance. The steady ongoing stimulus of the collar no longer registers consciously in the brain. Why not? Teleologically, it is because that unchanging stimulus serves no purpose. If it were otherwise, our consciousness would consist entirely of myriads of inputs of unchanging messages: the feel of our shoes, our shirt, our socks. Do you feel your socks? No. Yet they are touching your skin and stimulating nerve endings there... Why don’t you feel them most of the time? Because your brain adapts to a fixed steady input and no longer “feels” it, or to use the preferred neurological term, your brain develops tolerance.” Throughout his harrowing memoirs, Primo Levi describes a similar phenomenon. How, during the summers incarcerated in Auschwitz, he was consumed by hunger, but in the winters it was the cold that most inflicted him. He felt most acutely the severe suffering in front of him. We often don’t have the headspace to view our lives in their totality, to take in the many, constant stimuli around us, and instead the issues pressing down upon us at each particular time fill us. One could, for example, be bothered by an issue at work and so completely overlook the fact that they ate an enjoyable meal that day.
The same was perhaps true for the Jewish People. Having just been rescued from the most brutal forced labour and oppression, they most valued their freedom, their escape from their “house of slavery.” What they most appreciated was turning their backs on that wretched country of Egypt, and thus G-d referred to Himself specifically as the One who took them out. He had solved their biggest issue, the feeling that their consciousness, in Klawans words, most intensely felt.
However, as the Bechor Shor writes, G-d did not just take us out of Egypt, He “created us and formed us... life and kindness He does for us.” Thus, perhaps that is in part the intention of the subsequent commandments:Treating G-d’s name with awe, observing Shabbat, valuing our relationships, and treating every human being with respect and dignity all serve to widen our consciousness from just appriciating our freedom from Egyptian slavery to help us appreciate all of life and “feel our socks.”
Yitro
RABBI DR RAYMOND APPLE
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT
Though we use the phrase, “The Ten Commandments”, the Decalogue is ten Words or Principles. The first says that there is One G-d and He brought us from bondage to freedom.
After proclaiming His existence, why does He speak of His deeds?
Because the crucial thing is not just that He is, but that He has a relationship with the people of Israel and He acts within history. His deeds prove His power and confirm His nature. They show what He is capable of doing and indicate why He does it.
Without this information, we might have found it hard to be certain of His existence. As the Torah says in Parashat Ki Tissa (Ex. 33:19-20), we cannot see Him, but we can see His deeds: He is not visible or tangible, but He is powerful.
THEY SAW THE THUNDER
An array of noisy phenomena accompanied the Revelation on Mount Sinai. There was thunder. There was lightning (Ex. 20:15). But strangely, the thunder was seen and the lightning was heard, the opposite of what normally happens.
In the Mechilta, the rabbis draw our attention to what took place. They say, “They saw what is normally heard, and heard what is normally seen”. Both seeing and hearing are modes of sensory perception. The moment was so elevated that the experience transcended the usual way of the world.
If anyone had asked the Israelites to articulate what took place they would not have been able to give a straight answer. They would probably have said, “How did we know what occurred? We just knew!”
According to Ibn Ezra, their experience at the great moment was a miraculous combination of all their senses.
YITRO’S B’RACHAH
The priest of Midian who became Moses’ father-in-law had several names including Chovav. The most famous name he bore was Yitro.
The rabbinic sources think highly of Yitro and say that he was the first person to utter a benediction, a b’rachah in praise of the Israelite G-d. He had no doubts in his mind that HaShem was greater than any of the gods of the nations because his spiritual journey had taken him through many faiths and he recognised how unauthentic, inept and ineffective the other deities were. He acknowledged that HaShem was Melech HaOlam, the Ruler of the World.
There is a rabbinic view that when the Torah was revealed on Mount Sinai, Moses sent Yitro away somewhere so that he should not be embarrassed or put to shame by his earlier repudiation of the Divine Ruler.
THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT
The commandments were engraved on two stone tablets – five on one, five on the other.
According to tradition, the first five are between man and G-d, and the second five between man and man.
The symmetry is impressive, but the fifth commandment seems to spoil the system.
Surely “Honour your father and mother” belongs to the second tablet! How can it be on the first as a law between man and G-d?
To find an answer we have to go back to the beginning of history.
Man was created alone and felt lonely. He needed relationships. “I am here,” said the Almighty. On one level that provided a relationship.
But on the social level man was still alone. So G-d created another being, Eve, as Adam’s earthly partner.
But both relationships came with a price tag. The relationship with G-d brought responsibilities, as did that with fellow creatures. Man had to look both above and laterally.
Looking above brought the duty, “Love the L-rd your G-d” (also part of this sidra). Laterally the duty was “Love your fellow as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). But the second duty said something more: “Love your fellow as yourself: I am the L-rd”.
Earthly love, of which the basic level is love of parents, was only possible because of the L-rd. Loving one’s parents is thus a duty we owe to G-d.
Gav is an informal educator. Questions? gavcohn@gmail.com.
Rabbi Raymond Apple was for many years Australia’s highest profile rabbi and the leading spokesman on Judaism. After serving congregations in London, Rabbi Apple was chief minister of the Great Synagogue, Sydney, for 32 years. He also held many public roles, particularly in the fields of chaplaincy, interfaith dialogue and Freemasonry, and is the recipient of several national and civic honours. Now retired, he lives in Jerusalem and blogs at http://www.oztorah.com
