Articles in Simon Holloway
The Curious History of a Load of Crap
By Simon Holloway
Yiddish speakers are very polite. While English speakers might tell you to get stuffed, a Yiddish speaker only directs you to do a poo in the sea (גיי קאקן אויפן ים). …
The Essence of Torah
By Simon Holloway
It is no secret that the weight of our traditions, and the vast bulk of our legislation, derives not from an explicit reading of the Torah, but instead from the long and methodical …
The Silent Mind: A Jew’s Views on Meditation
By Simon Holloway
Recently, I attended Vipassana: a ten-day, silent meditation retreat that was held in Blackheath, NSW. (For those who are interested in it, I reviewed it on my blog a little while ago.) And …
Who is a Jew – from the Bible to the Beit Din
By Simon Holloway
It was about two years ago now. I was having lunch with a friend and fellow contributor to Galus, when he asked me the big question: “What’s your background?” Well, my mother is …
More than Words
By Simon Holloway
On November 7th, this coming Sunday, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz will be completing his forty-five year project of translating the entire Babylonian Talmud into Israeli Hebrew. Abigail Leichman, writing for the New Jersey Jewish …
The Kollel System – Too Much Torah?
By Simon Holloway
In Genesis 49:13-15, Jacob blesses the eponymous ancestors of the tribes Zevulun and Issachar and, although the content of the blessings might be a little prosaic to our ears, it has inspired a …
The Midrash Says…
By Simon Holloway
Most people who use the word “midrash” don’t know what it means. To them, “midrash” simply denotes a convoluted and nonsensical commentary to a text: a tract composed with the intention of obfuscating …
Bigotry in the Suburbs
By Simon Holloway
As some readers may be aware, the St Ives Jewish community has been petitioning the construction of an eruv for over two years now. A symbolic perimeter around an area, the building of …
Not Sent From My iPad
By Simon Holloway
I don’t care how popular the iPad becomes, or even the ubiquitous E Ink devices: nothing will ever replace the joy of holding a book. The tactile and olfactory feast that is an …
Bad language in the Good Book
By Simon Holloway
In a Sydney synagogue, a local rabbi delivered a sermon in which he criticised foul language as essentially not Jewish. I will not question the fact that classical Jewish literature eschewed scatological and …
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