On Ro'sh HaShanah not only ever Jew, but every human being (and every created thing) is judged for the coming year. Thus Ro'sh HaShanah has universal meaning and implications even as its observance has been enjoined only on Israel.
It is appropriate to reflect on and pray about these things, though Noachides should not "add to" the commandments given to them by making Ro'sh HaShanah a holiday for themselves as it is for Israel.
I know. It's complicated.
Ping.
Dozens of audio lectures and articles by R. Akiva Tatz are at
http://www.simpletoremember.com/authors/a/rabbi-akiva-tatz/
Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He studied medicine at the University of Witwatersrand and graduated with distinction in surgery. He spent a year in St. Louis, Missouri, as an American Field Service Scholar and subsequently returned there for elective work in internal medicine at Washington University.
Dr. Tatz served as medical officer in the South African Defence force and completed a tour of duty on the Namibian border during the conflict there. He subsequently moved to Israel where he practised both in hospital and general medicine in Jerusalem, as well as engaging in Yeshiva study.
After practising medicine and studying in Yeshiva concurrently for some time, Dr. Tatz undertook a number of years of Talmudic study and later teaching in Jewish thought and medical ethics in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Dr. Tatz founded the Jerusalem Medical Ethics Forum, of which he is Director, for the purpose of teaching and promoting knowledge of Jewish medical ethics internationally.
He has written a number of books on the subject of Jewish thought and philosophy: Anatomy of a Search, which documents the process of transition from secular to observant lifestyles among modern Jews, Living Inspired and Worldmask.
Dr. Tatz is the co-author of Reb Simcha Speaks, and has recently published The Thinking Jewish Teenager’s Guide to Life. His work has been translated into Spanish, Russian, French and Portuguese.
He currently lectures on Jewish thought and medical ethics at the Jewish Learning Exchange in London and internationally.
This library is called the “The Julian Solomon Library”.
These lectures are also available for sale in CD or tape format.
Chag Sameach!
This is off topic [something I have a very bad habit of doing; sorry] but I have a question that has been eating at me, and I don’t know where else to ask it. First, the set up. Lately, I have been listening to Joshua Bell for hours on end. It’s never enough; the more I hear him play, the more I want to him him play some more.
The question. Were Joshua Bell’s forebears ever at risk during the Holocaust? A corollary question. Is there a site anywhere that lists people like Bell who, if the situation hadn’t turned out right for them, might not have survived/come into being? What I’m asking is, does anybody keep a list of musicians, physicians, scientists, mathematicians, physicists, etc., whose antecedents escaped, or in some cases narrowly escaped, the Holocaust?
Thanks for tolerating an off topic question. Mega thanks to anybody who can help me out.
what about volition and the individual being able to control his own destiny by his own independent rational judgment and choices?
mark
May G-d will give us a good signing in the Book of Life for the coming year and seal it on Y'K.
B'H