Category: Other

A secular Jew asked me why I was converting to Judaism.

Why would a rational, educated woman choose to join an ancient people and embrace traditions that seem to belong to another age? Did I truly believe those traditions were still…

I sit near to the shulchan, a few seats from the Mechiza, close enough to notice what often goes unseen.

There is a moment on Shabbat that passes quietly, almost modestly, though it is an act carried out by genarations before me.
One raises…

Moving from fear-based paralysis to evidence-based progress

For years, the Israeli debate about peace has been locked in a false binary:
naïve idealism vs. permanent war.

But most Israelis are not ideologues.
They’re not opposed to peace in…

I sit in close proximity to the shulchan and yesterday I perceived an action which many times is on the sideline of Sabbat procedures.

One man always holds the Torah while another person dresses the Torah.
Both actions are honors bestowed on…

What happens when theory collides with history, data, and lived Jewish experience—and loses.

I used to be an anti-Zionist. I wasn’t militant about it, but I agreed with most of the arguments. They struck me as serious and morally…

A Jewish and Neuroscientific Perspective on Living in a Time of Moral Noise

Many Jews I speak with lately say some version of the same thing: “I’m not just angry or afraid — I’m tired.”

Not the ordinary kind of tired. A deeper…

Minneapolis–Saint Paul, antisemitism, and the danger of collective judgment

The Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area is home to the largest Somali community in the United States—a genuine American success story rooted in refuge from…

I feel like Moses this week. In Parshat Shemot, at seeing the strange bush on fire but not burning and then hearing and feeling the presence of God, the Torah tells us, “At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.”

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Messiah is the Son of David mystically. But in reality, Messiah is the lord of King David (Psalms 110:1).

In this Last Day, when the Lord is revealed as the Magnified Adonai from Above, on the earth, His selected man from among the diaspora…

This past Sunday night NFL fans were treated to one of the wildest fourth quarters possible in a winner take all contest to end the regular season- and it ended with not one, but two, wildly missed kicks within 55 seconds of playing…