Category: Other

Seen through this framework, Israel and India have independently converged on a strikingly similar counter-terror model, despite radically different geographies, cultures, and political systems. Neither country treats terrorism primarily as a…

I have never had a Christmas tree.

I have never had my photo taken with Santa Claus.

I have never had mistletoe hanging in my house.

I have never had a Christmas fruit cake.  (Although to be honest, I think that one is more about my palate…

“Choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.”
–  John Kenneth Galbraith to John F Kennedy (March 1962)

Dr. Jack Nelson was the most elegant, refined human being I ever met.

He spoke slowly, concisely and confidently. He dressed…

Hidden Light: Miketz, Yosef, the Dreidel, the Sufganiyah, and Faith from Within the Darkness

One of the familiar and long-established customs of Chanukah is the spinning of the dreidel. As long as the dreidel is turning, everything is…

Come Together, Right Now

The parashah opens with one word: Vayigash — and Yehuda drew close. Before arguments or explanations, there is closeness. The Torah teaches that when Am Yisrael is tested, the first response is not to explain…

Let me start by saying this loud and clear as an Australian Jew, born and bred by the shores of Bondi. We should not have to ‘Rest in Peace’ so that we can live in peace!

Sunday the 14th of December, 2025. A day marked forever by…

Throughout the stories of Joseph interpreting the dreams of the Pharaoh’s butler and baker, and then of the Pharaoh himself, the Bible uses the verb poter (“interpreting”) and the noun pitaron (“interpretation,” “meaning,”…

President Trump on Feb. 22, 2018, hosted a discussion at the White House in the second year of his first term on the critical issue of firearms violence for a “listening session.” Also from the White House was Secretary of Education,…

The Teachings of Parashah Miketz

Parashah Miketz is not a story of redemption, nor of success. It is a study in transformation under reversal: what happens to a human being when the conditions that shaped them are violently replaced by their…

At this stage, it is natural for us to be guided by our perceptions and to try to interpret events positively. However, reality can sometimes be harsher, and as the saying goes: “There is none so blind as he who will not see.”

The attack…