Articles in David Werdiger
The Social Network – My Friend has a Friend
By David Werdiger
In the weekly portion of the same name (Numbers/Bamidbar 22), Balak, the king of Moab, commissions the gentile prophet Balaam to curse the Jews who are travelling through his land on their way …
The Smell of Chickens
By David Werdiger
To paraphrase Kilgore in the epic war film Apocalypse Now, “I love the smell of chickens in the morning”. I don’t. I actually can’t stand the smell. It’s 5am, and I have just …
Rosh Hashanah – of Fish Heads and Frankl
By David Werdiger
Many of the rituals and activities around Rosh Hashanah are brimming with symbolism. From the round challot symbolizing completeness, to the special foods eaten such as honey cake and apple dipped in honey …
Matza ado about nothing
By David Werdiger
Judging by the number of comments on the stories about soft matzah, particularly those questioning the flour used for matzos that had been manufactured locally in the past under Kosher Australia, you’d think …
MasterCholent
By David Werdiger
I’m very pleased that the current season of MasterChef is finally over. My family is whole again; the kids are able to go to bed at their regular time; we are able to …
Whither the Tribe of Levi
By David Werdiger
It’s a common scene in a Shul on Shabbat. Shortly before the reading of the Torah, the gabbai (that fellow who makes sure all the parts of the shul service that have to …
Bald Rebel Swallowed by the Earth
By David Werdiger
Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of the Chabad/Lubavitch movement, had a favourite saying, “One should live with the times”. His intent was not that Judaism should be adapted to fit the times. …
Banning the Burqa
By David Werdiger
Following his Hamas-hummus prank in the movie Bruno, one could imagine a Sacha Baron-Cohen character quickly dismissing the idea of banning the burqa: How could we do that!? Throw away so much tradition? …
It’s matzah, but not as you know it
By David Werdiger
“This is what Hillel did in the times of the temple: he would wrap the Pascal offering, matzah and maror and eat them all together” (text of the Hagaddah, quoted from Talmud …
Messianic matters
Outsider, Rachel Sacks-Davis, and insider, David Werdiger, comment on the expulsion of the “Moshiach Dancers” and related controversies at Yeshiva Shule. Click here to skip straight to David’s insiders’ view.
Outsider’s view
by Rachel Sacks-Davis
It’s 6pm on …
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