by Rabbi Yair Hoffman
To this day, people marvel at his Chumash – a product of a mere nine months of researching and writing – an endeavor that would take others ten years or more to create – and one that would not match the quality of it. In the annals of modern Torah scholarship, few figures have left as indelible a mark in such a brief time as Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan zt”l. Described by those who knew him as “a meteor, a dazzling light that illuminated the darkened skies of post-Holocaust Torah learning, but burned out far too soon,” Rabbi Kaplan’s life was a testament to the transformative power of Torah and the boundless potential of the human spirit. In his mere forty-eight years, he produced approximately fifty books, inspired countless souls to return to their heritage, and opened doorways to realms of Jewish thought that had remained inaccessible to English readers for centuries.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a letter to all U.N. member nations obtained Friday by The Associated Press that cash for its regular operating budget could run out by July, which could dramatically affect its operations.