Perched on Lake Geneva and framed by the Alps, Lausanne blends history and contemporary life. It’s a small but welcoming Jewish community centered around the Jewish Center, where tradition, shared meals, and cultural life come together. Beyond…
Category: Other
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Exploring Lausanne: A Jewish Journey Through History and Culture
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Shame
What is the first human emotion that the Torah describes? It is shame (or the absence of it). Before Eve and Adam eat from the tree in the centre of the Garden, they are naked but feel no shame. Once they eat from the tree,…
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The Rational Mystic: Maimonides, Abulafia, and the Oneness of All Things.
For centuries, a quiet war has raged in the halls of academia and the sanctuaries of theology. It revolves around the fundamental nature of reality. On one side is the physical world—concrete, visible, measurable, and governed by strict,…
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The Ghosts We Refuse to See: Why Yardena Schwartz’s Book Matters More Than Ever
Why Ghosts of a Holy War Matters Today At today’s Miami book club, our discussion of Yardena Schwartz’s Ghosts of a Holy War made one fact painfully clear: the patterns of anti-Jewish violence we see now are not new. They are the continuation…
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What Would Rambam Say about the Haredi Matter
This is an internal Jewish argument, not a secular attack Maimonides addressed many of the matters associated with the path being taken by Israeli Haredim, and his views are fully integral to the Orthodox halachic tradition. This is not a secular…
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Toldot: The Garden and the Path to its Doors!
Imagine finishing the milk one morning and setting a note in mind to make sure to buy some more before returning home. As the day progresses, the stress mounts and many emotions come into play, and by the time 7 p.m. rolls around, all you…
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Misunderstandings about Yom Kippur
My prior essay spoke about mistranslations. This one continues the discussion by focusing on two holy days with somewhat similar names, but they are totally different. Each occurred on the tenth day of the Jewish month Kislev, ten days after Rosh…
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Changing hearts in Senegal, one verse at a time
It took less than two minutes for the shouting to begin. I had the privilege of representing Israel at an interreligious conference in the West African country of Senegal this week, hosted by our embassy in Dakar and the local office of…
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Anything Less Is a Whitewash . . .
Without Independent Accountability, Israel Cannot Heal — or Defend Itself In the time since the trauma of October 7th, Israelis have shown extraordinary resilience. Communities shattered by terror are rebuilding themselves from the ground up….
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Rafael signs huge Defense Ministry Iron Dome deal
Rafael has signed a contract worth millions of dollars to expand serial production of the Iron Dome air defense missile system.
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