Friday June 17, 2022 – י״ח סִיוָן During my freshman year of college, I enrolled in a Hebrew literature course dedicated to the literary works of A. B. Yehoshua. After spending time with his landmark novels Mr. Mani and The Lover, essays on the “Normality” of the Jewish condition, and the short story “Facing the […]

Friday June 10, 2022 – י״א סִיוָן תשפ”ב Imagine for a moment, that in the U.S. Democrats were to propose a bill to ban abortion and reverse the 1973 ruling on Roe vs. Wade. Then imagine that out of spite towards their ideological and political rivals the Republicans, as a block, voted against this bill […]

Friday June 3, 2022 – ד׳ סִיוָן תשפ״ב וְחָנ֖וּ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אִ֧ישׁ עַֽל־מַחֲנֵ֛הוּ וְאִ֥ישׁ עַל־דִּגְל֖וֹ לְצִבְאֹתָֽם׃ (במדבר א:נב) “The Israelites shall encamp troop by troop, each man with his division and each under his flag for their forces.“  (BaMidbar 1:52)   On two Sundays in a row, we saw and will see a massive convergence […]

Friday May 27, 2022 – כ״ו אִיָיר תשפ״ב “Our Reform Zionism can be of a kind that scarcely exists today, but is desperately needed: a Zionism that is fully affirmative both of a religiously-motivated political liberalism and of a religiously rooted program for a specifically Jewish future in the State of Israel.” ~ Professor Michael […]

Friday May 20, 2022 – י״ט אִיָיר תשפ״ב I used to ask groups of Israeli soldiers joining Birthright Israel groups the following question: “Why do American Jews live in America? “Ah,” they would answer. “Obviously, they live there for a bigger house, nicer car, better salary, fewer terror attacks, etc…” “No,” I would respond with […]

Friday May 13, 2022 – י״ב אִיָיר תשפ״ב Just one year ago this week, Israel began Operation Shomer Homot (Guardian of the Walls). Early last May, violence broke out in Jerusalem over potential evictions of Palestinians from homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Then violence broke out on the Temple Mount. The long-running dispute over […]

By Karen and Marc Rivo** Even after 25 trips, our hearts still raced when our El Al flight touched down at Ben Gurion. Moreso as we anticipated the emotional days of Yom HaZikaron, (Israel’s Memorial Day), in which the State of Israel mourns the more than 24,000 who died so we may live their dreams of […]

Thursday May 5, 2022 – ד׳ אִיָיר תשפ״ב   “הַיָּשָׁן יִתְחַדֵּשׁ וְהֶחָדָשׁ יִתְקַדֵּשׁ”  – (הרב אברהם יצחק הכהן קוק) “The Ancient Shall Be Renewed and the New Shall be Made Holy” ~ Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook   Today we celebrated Yom Haatzmaut, through which Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, thoughtfully instituted a […]

Reading Megillat Ha’atzmaut at the Egalitarian Kotel Sunday May 1st 11:30am ET/ 8:30am PT Every year between Yom HaShoah and Yom Ha’atzmaut, the World Zionist Organization holds a festive event of reading Megillat Ha’atzmaut at the Egalitarian Kotel. They broadcast it live in different languages to the whole Jewish world. This is their way to […]

Friday April 29, 2022 – כ״ח נִיסָן תשפ״ב Over coffee at a Jerusalem café more than a decade ago a well-known rabbi, writer, and academic, turned to me and said “Y’know, the problem with the young generation today is that they just don’t know what it was like to have been through the Holocaust, and […]