Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben, Ph.D. Today is the first time in 598 years that the Catholic Church has been without a Pope for any reason other than death. The last Pope to step down while still alive was Pope Gregory XII in 1415 – until Benedict XVI said his final farewell this week before a crowd of 100,000 of the faithful applauding, cheering, waving banners of support in St.

Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben, Ph.D. Q – “What does a caterpillar do for New Year’s? A – Turns over a new leaf.

Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben, Ph.D. For the Jewish people, Hanukah is our story of the first recorded struggle for religious freedom. When Syrian emperor Antiochus unified his kingdom in 167 B.C.E.