Rabbi Michael Green's Blog

Life Lessons from 13 Year Old Jordan Romero

There are many great things that have come with the comforts of contemporary society. That said, there is a side effect that sweeps across children, tweens, teenagers, and even young adults. Namely, people are increasingly coddled. Indeed, in 2008 Newsweek Magazine dedicated an entire article entitled: How to Cope When Your Adult Kids Move Back Home! What’s more, there is even a television program that follows this phenomenon. The show is called, Bank of Mom and Dad and features parents attempting to help their children cope with the financial reality of living as an “adult.” Unfortunately many of the “kids” have gone wildly astray and are besieged with credit card debt and a lifestyle that they never could have ever afforded!

May 23, 2010 - Read More (2 Comments) »

A Jewish Perspective on the Volcano, the iPad and Us!

Unless you’ve had your head stuck under a rock, you are aware of the Iceland volcano that began erupting on March 20th 2010, and for all intensive purposes shut down Europe (Flickr Pictures and YouTube Video here). Indeed, as reported here, President Obama, as well as many other leaders of the world where unable to fly in for the weekend funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczynsk, due to the volcanic ash cloud that disrupted European air traffic. Personally, I’m still aware of several bochurim as well as families that remain stuck in various parts of the world, because of the volcanic ash. Despite the fact that this volcano was located in Iceland, it affected the global economy in addition to families and businessman. All in all, the airline industry reported a loss of nearly 2 billion dollars due to the volcanic ash!

April 25, 2010 - Read More (1 Comment) »

Educating the iGeneration: Hundreds of High Quality Free Fonts!

Several months ago I was asked to give a presentation at the KISHOR SOCIAL MEDIA CONFERENCE held in Jerusalem, Israel. My particular topic was, The Facts: What Your Students are Doing with Social Media. And so, since the presentation I have found myself being asked in various venues for my insights as to how we can attempt to reach and inspire the iGeneration. The answer is not a simple one. If however we are to start somewhere, I believe the answer lies in how we present our ABC’s! Let’s be honest…

April 20, 2010 - Read More (2 Comments) »

Introducing the iTalmud

iTalmud Throughout the “Tech World” many people waited with anticipation to hear Steve Jobs introduce an Apple iTaplet. While Steve Jobs has now formally made his announcement, people have been miffed as to why the iTablet was not the name for their new device! Instead, Apple is calling their new device the iPad. Indeed, there have been more than a handful of critics who have not been so kind to the name of this Tablet device that Apple will soon release. Well, today I got to see not the iTablet, but the iTalmud for the very first time! Allow me to explain…During my years in Yeshiva, regardless of where I studied, be it in America or Israel, year in year out, it was necessary to have a bookbinder bind the Gemorah, the tractate of Talmud that the Yeshiva would be learning. And so, many Bachurim would not simply bind their Gemorah. Instead, many Bachurim take the opportunity to also have the binding of their Gemorah stand out and have a cool design. What’s more, while some people in contemporary society are proud of their tattoo or their shoes or what have you…

February 2, 2010 - Read More (1 Comment) »

The Jewish Stairway to Heaven

St Pancras International Station Begins Its Eurostar Service

On Sunday, we enter the Jewish month of Cheshvan. Our Sages however, refer to this month using the name: Mar Cheshvan. If you are thinking that the word Mar sounds a bit familiar, you are right! You probably recognize that it is ever so similar to the word Marror, the Bitter Herbs that we eat at the Pesach Seder.
Truth be told, our Sages relate that this month, is Mar, it’s bitter, because there are no holidays in this month. Indeed, there is not even a formal fast day!

October 15, 2009 - Read More (1 Comment) »

The Windmill Sukkah

As illustrated in my Twitter Update here, I love Sukkos! Truth be told, the best place to celebrate this holiday is in the holy city of Yerushalayim. The weather is great, a spirit of Kedusha permeates the air, kids are off school, people are visiting from countries such as America to Argentina, the concerts are eclectic as well as legendary, and I could just go on and on…if you’ve never been here before for Sukkos, you’ve gotta come.

Thankfully, we have been doing a lot of walking around the city over the past couple of days. Indeed, we’ve walked from Ramat Eshkol to Shaarie Chessed on more than one occasion.

October 8, 2009 - Read More (0 Comments) »

A Little Magic: Don’t See the Wheelchair! See the Person!

When I was a teenager, I once worked with a special needs boy for about four weeks over the summer.

I’ll admit: it was hard work, and nit did not feel all that rewarding. However, at the end of the camp, the boy gave me a big hug at my knees. I still remember that hug to this day.

Not withstanding that one summer, I had never been exposed to the day to day needs of special needs children.

September 7, 2009 - Read More (0 Comments) »

Ramat Eshkol Strollers

In my neighborhood of Ramat Eshkol and all across Jerusalem for that matter, strollers are like cars. For instance, if you want to go to the grocery store and bring some bags back what is the preferred method of transportation? Well it seems that the most cost effective and efficient method of shlepping your items home is to take your stroller. Plus, if you take your double stroller and only have one child with you, a person then has room to stash more bags in the second seat.