Capturing the Moon: Classic and Modern Jewish Tales

Editorial Reviews. About the Author. Rabbi Edward M. Feinstein is senior rabbi of Valley Beth.
Table of contents

Every so often he would retreat to a distant room in the palace, a room to which only he had the key. For a few hours he would lock himself in that room.

See a Problem?

And then he would return to the throne and resume his duties. Most members of the royal court assumed he went to the room to think, to meditate, or perhaps to pray. They accepted the mystery as part of their beloved king's life. Once an ambassador came from a far-off land. The ambassador spent many hours with the king. He grew to appreciate the king's wisdom and his kindness.

It was rare, he thought, for a king to listen as carefully as this king listened. It was unusual for a king to seek advice from everyone who appeared before him.


  1. The Cost of Living: Early and Uncollected Stories.
  2. Capturing the Moon: Classic and Modern Jewish Tales Retold | Curriculum Library.
  3. Early Dynastic Egypt;

It was remarkable for a king to care as deeply and to work as hard for the good of his subjects as this king did. When the ambassador noticed that the king occasionally disappeared into his distant room, he wondered, "What does the king do in that locked room? Why does he go there? What is it in that room that helps him rule with such wisdom and kindness? So one day when the king retreated to his room, the ambassador secretly followed behind. When the king closed the door, the ambassador crouched down and peered through the keyhole.

There he took in the king's great secret. In the privacy of the room, the king took off his crown and his royal robes and put on the costume of a jester. Around and around the room he danced the jester's dance, making funny faces and singing the silly songs of a jester. Then he stood before a great mirror and recited to himself: You may look and sound and act like the king, but you are only the jester.

You are only the jester pretending to be the king.

10 Awesome Jewish Stories Of Biblical Characters

Never forget who you are. He is the well-known author of Tough Questions Jews Ask: He is also the editor of Jews and Judaism in the 21st Century. The following excerpt from Capturing the Moon has been provided courtesy of Behrman House Publishers. The Sukkah of Rabbi Pinchas Ever get tired of the phone ringing, friends asking for just a little of your time, family members making ceaseless demands?

Ever wish they would all go away and leave you alone?

Oops! That page can’t be found.

And if they did, how long would it be before you missed them? How long before you would discover that the greatest joy in life is knowing that you're needed and loved? Everyone loved Rabbi Pinchas. Wherever he went, he was surrounded. As he walked briskly to the synagogue early on Shabbat, his students would catch up to him to try to acquire a morsel of learning.

As he sat in the synagogue praying, children would come and sit on his lap. When he rose to teach, the synagogue was packed. And when he went home, a dozen women with a dozen kugels were waiting for him.


  • Capturing the Moon: Classic and Modern Jewish Tales - Google Книги.
  • Breakdown and Breakthrough: Psychotherapy in a New Dimension!
  • Capturing the Moon: Classic and Modern Jewish Tales Retold.
  • Pot O Gold.
  • To D-Day and Back: Adventures with the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment and Life as a World War II .

    • What could he do? He carefully tasted all twelve kugels, savoring the love baked into each one. Then joyfully he pronounced twelve blessings: On holidays even more people came, especially on Sukkot. And no one's Sukkah was more filled with joy than the sukkah of Rabbi Pinchas. His students filled the sukkah with learning. The community brought delicacies and treats for the feast. And children filled his sukkah with laughter and song.

    Capturing the Moon: Classic and Modern Jewish Tales

    It was said, if you haven't celebrated in the sukkah of Rabbi Pinchas, you don't know true joy! But despite all that love, Rabbi Pinchas was bothered. He knew that a great rabbi must write a great book. Only if he wrote a great book would he be remembered as a great rabbi long after he was gone. Rashi wrote great books. The Rambam did too. To be great, Rabbi Pinchas knew, he needed to write his own great book. He had no time to sit and write his great book. He was always taking care of someone, answering someone's question, offering someone a blessing.

    He was always being the rabbi. When could he sit alone and write his great book? So one Yom Kippur, Rabbi Pinchas prayed a strange prayer: Day and night they pester me.

    Capturing the Moon: Classic and Modern Jewish Tales by Edward Feinstein

    Day and night I listen to their needs. Give me peace to sit and write my book! Let no one bother me! God heard the strange prayer and asked Rabbi Pinchas, "Is that what you really want? Mel Glazer rated it it was amazing Jul 21, David rated it it was amazing Nov 23, Emily rated it it was amazing Sep 28, Arye rated it liked it Jan 12, M Diamond rated it it was amazing Sep 21, Roberta Kalmanson rated it it was amazing Dec 15, Abby added it Jan 08, Clauterbach added it Mar 20, Jessica marked it as to-read Jul 27, Haven Gordon marked it as to-read Dec 14, Kim marked it as to-read Jan 07, Eliana marked it as to-read Jul 04, Moshe added it Sep 06, Randall marked it as to-read Feb 16, Mackensie marked it as to-read May 12, Tina Asman marked it as to-read Dec 03, Libby marked it as to-read Jan 16, Temple Sinai Denver added it Feb 11, Shaina added it Mar 10, Y marked it as to-read Oct 29, Robyn marked it as to-read Nov 11, Haven marked it as to-read Dec 19, Natasha marked it as to-read Jan 25, Amy Hertz marked it as to-read Mar 14, Mark Shenk marked it as to-read Oct 02,