Category: Other

Well the rain exploded with a mighty crash as we fell into the sun 

Ted Widmer’s Wings book is the sweeping post-Beatles journey of the most influential musician of our time, Sir…

A reflection on Peace Corps service, cultural exchange, and the communities that shape who we become.

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As Peace Corps Week comes to a close, I find myself pausing to reflect on how those years of service shaped the…

As global attention turns to the security of the Red Sea, a significant geopolitical story is unfolding along its southern shores. Somaliland, a relatively stable and democratic territory in the Horn of Africa, sits at a strategic crossroads…

The election story of 1980 that everyone forgot — and why it matters now.

Most Americans remember the Iran hostage crisis as a national humiliation.

Fifty-two diplomats held captive. A rescue mission that burned in the desert. Blindfolded…

Jewish Leadership Is Losing Both the Tech War and the Cognitive War in Fighting Antisemitism. Because while AI matters, without behavioral science to inform strategic thinking, little will change in meeting the latest devastating iteration of…

The phrase “United we stand, divided we fall” is a longstanding principle that underscores the strategic value of collective cohesion and the risks inherent in internal fragmentation. Across historical, political, and institutional…

It has been interesting to note what constitutes an essential service allowed to be open during this time of war.  My synagogue is still limited to twenty congregants because only that many can access its saferoom.  Schools and daycares are…

A few weeks ago, we celebrated our granddaughter Sarit’s bat mitzvah. It was a wonderful simcha. Sarit delivered a beautiful dvar Torah that focused on a mishnah in Pirkei Avot that she had studied with me. There was dancing, good food, and…

There is a cruelty even more refined than bullets and barrel bombs – the cruelty of keeping an entire people suspended in permanent victimhood because their suffering is more useful than their dignity. Palestinians are the only refugee…