Category: Other

A couple of days ago, in Australia, fifteen people were murdered on the first night of Hanukkah. As the death count was still rising, friends and colleagues were reaching out with sympathy, checking in on me, horrified by this latest…

It took him 50 years – but cancer researcher Dr. Rakesh K. Jain, Harvard University, finally is getting oncologists to think differently about treating cancer.

A tired joke speaks of an economist…

Only in Israel does a manicure come with unsolicited, blunt life advice.

A few days ago, mid-polish, my manicurist looked up at me. She knows my story. She knows I am divorced from an Israeli and that navigating the “after” has not always…

Terrorism operates on three levels within society. There are those who incite it, those who commit it and those who tolerate it.

One can argue that these groups do not bear equal responsibility. Yet, judging by the outcome, it is hard to say…

Hanukkah, in its spiritual meaning, is the revelation of a timeless inner process. The external events of 170 BCE—Antiochus’s desecration of the Temple, the persecution of the people, the uprising of the Maccabees, and the miracle of the…

In the aftermath of the recent terror attack targeting a Hanukkah lighting ceremony hosted by Chabad in Bondi beach, Australia, reports indicated that Indian intelligence agencies had issued security advisories to Jewish communities across…

Jerusalem: History, Truth, and the Indigenous Claim

Jerusalem is not merely a city. It is the beating heart of Jewish history, faith, and identity and one of the most contested places on earth precisely because of that centrality. To…

This week’s parsha is (almost) always read during Channukah, and it’s one of the few hataros mentioned in the Talmud:

בַּחֲנוּכָּה — בַּנְּשִׂיאִים, וּמַפְטִירִין בְּנֵרוֹת…

The holidays of Chanukah and Purim were decreed by the Rabbis. There may be hints to them from the Torah, but they are rabbinical.

The question that is asked is why is Hallel recited on Chanukah and not on Purim? One answer is that the…