Category: Other

From the very moment ancient Israel was founded by Avraham, the Jewish people have lived with war, persecution, and exile. The Land of Israel, aka Eretz Israel, has been conquered, ruled, and contested so many times that it is easy to lose…

For the last few months, I have been mulling over my decision to leave Omer, where I have lived for more than 50 years with my late husband and raised three children. This decision was…

The Alshich describes a certain torment that Pharoah went through as he was faced with dealing with the last few plagues.

Each time he recognized that he needed to accept the inevitable. He was thoroughly defeated and the great superpower…

In this week’s Torah reading we read the Mitzva to set up the Jewish calendar through sanctifying the months: This month shall be for you the first of all months (Shmot 12:2). This week we also celebrated the Rosh Chodesh for our…

The phrase “a G-d-shaped hole” is often used to describe a problem in human life. It means that a person can have everything they want and still feel that something important is missing. Pleasure, success, relationships, and achievements…

NATO defines itself as more than a military pact; its charter explicitly demands adherence to democratic institutions, the rule of law, and a robust civic culture. These are not decorative gestures but the normative glue preventing the…

Revolutions succeed when the existing regime’s armed forces suffer military defeat or switch sides.  Otherwise they falter.  And it’s rare that an army turns on its leaders out of love for country or sympathy with compatriots.  In…

My grandfather, passed away on 27^th January which is now the date of International Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD). I was born on 30^th January, the day when the Nazis came to power in 1933 and the day when Hitler gave his Reichstag speech in…

I propose a simple but unsettling idea: humans did not first become intelligent and then invent faith. They invented faith first—and faith is what made intelligence possible.

Long before humans created complex or “smart” tools, they…

After 2,000 years, and following years of political debate, Jews are officially allowed to pray with printed pages on the Temple Mount- though full prayer books remain restricted

Today, for the first time in 2,000 years, Jews are officially…