Joe Bobkers easy-to-read, indispensable and educational tour de force of the complexities of the laws of Shabbas and the beauty of the lores of Shabbas! Did you ever wonder? Is long-life relative to Shabbas? What's the essence of Shabbas? How did Shabbas observance become the standard of Judaism itself? What's the difference between "to remember" and "to observe?" How is it possible to suddenly "become holy" just because it's Shabbas? Is Shabbas good for the Jews or are the Jews good for Shabbas? What does Shabbas have to do with God's DNA? Why candles? Why not start the Shabbas with cake or herring? Why do Jewish women get the mitzva of lighting Shabbas candles? What does Sheki'a mean? Why does my mother cover her eyes when lighting Shabbas candles? I only have enough money to buy Shabbas candles or wine? Which one do I buy? What if I can't light candles on time? Can I make ice cream for the kids on Shabbas? Can I go to a baseball match on Shabbas if someone else carries my ticket for me? Can I go jogging on Shabbas? Can my children build lego sets on Shabbas? Can I pet my dog on Shabbas? Can I set a mouse trap on Shabbas? I was raised in the outback of Australia and we often came across rattlesnakes on Shabbos. What were we supposed to do? Have you seen the price of fish lately! It's more than a barrel of oil! Must I buy it for Shabbas? Can I make ice cubes on Shabbas? Can I open a beer bottle on Shabbas?...
Joe Bobker was born in 1947 in Ulm, a displaced persons camp in Germany, to Polish Holocaust survivors Chaskel, of blessed memory, and Ida Bobker. On May 21, 1949, the family arrived in Sydney, Australia, on board the Luciano Marnaro liner as refugees from Adolf Hitler s reign of terror. The most searing influences on his Jewishness were his parents, two simple Yidden who saw over 131 family members turned into ashes by the genocidal Nazi war machine and yet never swayed from their beliefs. Their faith was clearer than vision. Mr. Bobker studied at the famed Mercaz HaRav Kook Yeshiva in Kiryat Moshe, Jerusalem. Over the years he has spoken frequently and is well known for his dozens of articles about Jews and Judaism in the 100-year-old Los Angeles Jewish Times, of which he was publisher and editor-in-chief. A prolific and creative writer, Bobker has covered a wide variety of Jewish subjects from a very personal, philosophical, erudite and witty perspective. Since 1980, he has lived in Los Angeles and New York with his wife Miriam, a barrister from Melbourne, Australia, herself a child of Polish Holocaust survivors.
