Category: Other

My blog has almost always concerned life here in Israel but I would like to make an exception this time and add my name to all those American Jews who have come out against the candidacy of  Zohran Mamdani for Mayor of New York City. I was…

Part Two: Legitimacy and Recognition in a Fragmented Age

Psychology and politics meet precisely at this junction. Projection, displacement and coalition formation all provide inner fuel. Legitimacy and recognition supply the outer casing. The…

The Jerusalem Temple (Beit HaMikdosh) and the Ka’ba, the House of God (Baitullah) in Mecca are the two most well-known sites for monotheistic pilgrimage in the world.

The Islamic Hajj to the Ka’ba in Makka, and the Jewish Hajj to the…

On November 4^th, 1995, I was one of the 100,000 people in Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv, who were inspired by Yitzhak Rabin’s last speech before he walked down the stairs to meet Yigal Amir’s three shots that changed everything.  At…

The dramatic and emotionally powerful haftara of Parshat Vayera tells the story of a barren Shunamite woman who performs the kindness of welcoming the prophet Elisha into her home. When Elisha asks how he might repay her, his servant Gechazi…

Recently, Israeli media reported that the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration is being restructured as a growth engine for the State of Israel.  The ministry’s director general, Avichai Kahana, was quoted as justifying the reorientation of…

I said, thirty years ago, “My country is gone.” In retrospect, it was a prophetic sentence.

That terrible night I will never forget. I was among the first to arrive at the hospital. I rushed there and entered right after the stretcher,…

It seems like everyone is talking about Zohran Mamdani.

At lunch, my Israeli colleagues mention him between bites of schnitzel. Friends in New York call me saying they’re making aliyah or moving to Florida if he wins. He’s on Fox News,…

A few days ago, I was scrolling through my email when a message caught my eye: “70% off—today only!” My heart raced a little. The product looked great, the price was unbelievable, and the “only a few left!” banner pushed me to act…

What a whirlwind, Thank God! Miracle after miracle of life unfolding exactly as it is meant to be. I went on a very emotional trip today. First, I started my day with a Torah class, it was deep Chassidut with Yehudis Wisnefsky. I ran to catch…