This was about 75 years ago. It was a very difficult time in Eretz Yisrael. It was just after the war.
It was the time of the tzena – there was almost nothing to eat.
My father bought a donkey and a plow and hired himself out as a ploughman. It was very hard work. My mother learned to sew and worked as a seamstress - and that's how they make a living.
It wasn’t a great standard of life, but they survived. And the years passed by. Slowly, they saved some money, and decided to plant a vineyard...
There’s something unusual about Parshat Balak. It’s the only parsha in the Torah where the Jewish People, the “stars of the show” seem to only have a “walk-on” part. We see Bilam and Balak close up as they plot to destroy the Jewish People, but Israel is only seen in the background – almost off-camera. Why is this?
It’s difficult for someone who’s not Israeli to understand the impact of Rabbi Uri Zohar. Uri Zohar was the leading actor of his generation, the leading film producer and the leading stage producer all rolled up into one person. In 1977 he made a life change and became a Torah scholar and a highly influential Rabbi. He passed away at the beginning of June 2022