Finding Light in Dark Times As we stand at the threshold of another year, I find myself thinking about possibilities. In our tradition, every moment offers the chance for teshuvah, which involves return, renewal, and, ultimately, transformation. This feels...
A Different Seventh Day WHAT IF? The dust had barely settled from six days of fierce fighting, tremendous gains and terrible losses when Prime Minister Levi Eshkol made the announcement that would reshape the Middle East. Standing before the Knesset on June 11, 1967,...
From Herzl’s Dream to Tel Aviv Reality Today marks a significant date in the history of modern Israel. Today, according to some sources, Tel Aviv was founded in 1910. However, like many aspects of Israeli history, even this founding date carries complexity and...
To Bean or Not to Bean? Judaism’s Great Passover Debate Judaism is a complicated religion. Thousands of years of history and wanderings all over the planet have led to an accumulated wealth of traditions of all kinds. Some of these traditions or...
“And By Your Sword You Shall Live” – Masada’s Legacy in an Age of Crisis On October 12, 1984, the Irish Republican Army exploded a bomb planted in the Grand Hotel in Brighton, UK. Their target was then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her ministers. It...
So Which Is It? Today is the 28th of Shevat on the Jewish Calendar. According to Tractate Ta’anit, on this date in 134 BCE, Antiochus V abandoned his siege of Jerusalem and his plans for the city’s destruction. As such, this day was observed as a holiday in...
