Category: Other

Last night, when I got home, a motorcade was frozen, blocking the narrow street where I live. An armored procession caught in a space never meant for it. Black sedans sat bumper to bumper, their engines humming impatiently, exhaust curling up…

In Living in Both Worlds: Modern Orthodox Judaism in the United States, 1945–2025, Dr. Lawrence Grossman has written a fantastic book that looks at the development of modern orthodoxy in the USA. He writes that many practices in the modern…

Day 4 – Chanukah 2025

Kislev 28, 5786

December 17, 2025. 18:00

“Kissing Yemenite Lips in TLV: Jewish lips” 

A tired distinction is often drawn between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. You know the stereotypes. I won’t rehearse them….

During Channukah, Rosh Chodesh on Shabbat and Sunday

This is not every year. What things come in threes on this special day?

Three Torah Scrolls

Everyone talks about it. On Shabbat we take out three Torah scrolls if we have them. If not, we…

Parshat Miketz divides naturally into two themes. The first, long and repetitive, revolves around dreams: Pharaoh dreams, Joseph interprets, and Joseph rises swiftly to become second-in-command in Egypt. Though important, this section feels…

When two of Britain’s most senior police leaders announce a tougher line on chants and placards such as “globalise the intifada,” it is tempting to file it under “about time” and move on. In one sense, it is exactly that: a welcome…

JTA — We tend to think of human behavior as deeply shaped by group lines. Again and again, research in social psychology and social neuroscience, along with everyday experience, shows how easily people come to see themselves as members of…

We levelled up this year.

No war (mostly? Not the case, though, if you ask reservist families), hostages home (almost?) no COVID, no holds barred. It was joyous for us this year.

Since I switched career paths a year ago and started working…

I recently moved to a new position at work which required moving to a different site. It is kind of disorienting. Every so often I will be walking down the hall and I’ll find the face of a passer-by familiar. If I’m lucky, he’ll be…