Category: Other

Introduction

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently claimed that Jeffrey Epstein’s “unusual close relationship” with former prime minister Ehud Barak proves Epstein was not an Israeli intelligence asset. Writing on X, Netanyahu…

( Reflections on the Haftorah to Mishpatim)

( Jeremiah 34:8 -22, 33:25-26)

“To proclaim liberty throughout the land

Unto all the inhabitants thereof”

Is the essence of being born free,

For each human being to choose life’s…

When one person injures another, the Bible states that the damager must pay “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth…” (Ex. 21:24). Of course, the rabbis teach (Bava Kamma 83b-84a) that this does not refer to any sort of actual bodily…

Stories about indigenous groups claiming descent from the Lost Tribes of Israel surface across the globe. In some cases – most notably the Lemba of Southern Africa – genetic evidence has supported those claims. In other cases, there is no…

Why Šnipiškės Is the Church’s Responsibility

The Holocaust in Lithuania did not occur at the margins of society. It unfolded inside one of the most deeply Catholic countries in Europe, within a moral order shaped by Catholic authority,…

As the Orthodox Church enters the season of the Triodion, preparing hearts and consciences for Great Lent, two Gospel parables stand at the threshold: the Publican and the Pharisee (Luke 18:9–14), and the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32)….

Further to my earlier blog about NDP-based campaigns and petitions to hound and harass IDF veterans in Canada, please see the urgent Parliamentary petition below sponsored by the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation (CAEF) and Canadian…

Medical clowning is love. So I was taught.

Medical clowning means entering a space flooded with concern and trepidation, heavy with the foreign odors of disinfectants and medications. It’s performed in places where everyone except local…

Parashah Yitro — Existential Lessons

Learning to listen before speaking

Yitro does not belong to the people. He did not cross the sea. He did not eat manna. He did not tremble at Sinai. And yet, he sees.

Sometimes, the greatest danger is…

Introductory note: The following is a presentation I made on February 5 to Congregation Beth Torah, a Reform synagogue in Ventura, California.

The trauma of October 7^th remains palpable in Israel and for so many of us in the Jewish Diaspora…