Category: Other

The most dangerous battlefield isn’t always one with bullets. Sometimes, it’s the silent war inside.

This week, a Knesset Research and Information Center report stunned the nation with a heartbreaking figure: 279 IDF soldiers have…

In this week’s Torah reading, Lech Lecha, Abraham is suddenly ordered to leave his birthplace, the home of his father. He must go to a land that God will show him (Genesis 12:1). It sounds like he is radically independent of his family…

Recently, something beautiful happened—something I received with quiet joy and gratitude.

Pedigree Club UK, an international organization based in England and respected for its openness and compassion toward animals, has officially…

My grandmother was a delegate to the 1929 World Zionist Congress in Zurich, followed by her first visit to Palestine. She witnessed gunfights from her Jerusalem hotel balcony and met refugee orphans from Hebron during the infamous riots of…

Generally, we would expect the main character of our story to explain how they got to the point where they became the main character. At some point in a narrative, we look to find the motivation of the main character, what motivates their…

I’ve looked at life through both sides now. – Songwriter Joni Mitchell

One long-ago morning during the Hezbollah War, when the skies were baby-blue, clouds drifted sweetly, and fragrant trees were reborn and blossoming, a sleep-deprived…

Should we take down the Israeli flags with yellow ribbons wrapped around the Star of David — and go back to the simple blue and white of our nation’s emblem?

It’s a strange question, isn’t it?

Is the war over?

It’s October 8th. The…

Why Israel’s chosen name matters for memory, meaning, resilience, and renewal

“It is redemption time.” Those words leapt off the page as I read the Israeli government’s decision to officially name the post–October 7 conflict the…

This past Shabbat, Rabbi Aryeh Perlstein, Assistant Rabbi of our shul, Young Israel of North Beverly Hills, gave a speech that concluded with a remarkable story.
Its title: “If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem.”
A familiar line, yet the story…

A culture of casual contempt is eroding Jewish life.

In one of my favorite comedy bits, Modi Rosenfeld contrasts how Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews speak about their rabbis. The Sephardi character…