Commentary
Passover: When Jews Stepped Into History on Our Terms
JNS.org - In his important book Power and Powerlessness in Jewish History, the historian David Biale noted that the very first ancient Egyptian reference...
Israeli Victories on Earth — and in Space
While Israel is a small country, its history and dreams rival those of global powers. Just two days after the Israeli spacecraft Beresheet crashed into the surface of the moon, SpaceIL chairman Morris Kahn announced...
From Passover to the Holocaust: The Ongoing Jewish Story of Redemption
JNS.org - Last Friday night, Jews around the world once again sat at the seder table and retold the Passover narrative -- the dramatic story of how a powerless Jewish slave nation was miraculously redeemed, set...
Anticipating Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’
JNS.org - Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict surfaced two years ago, and to this day -- remarkably -- only he and a handful of aides know its precise details. A stream of...
Alan Dershowitz Should Come Clean About Qatar
Alan Dershowitz published a blistering response to my column asking him why he was publicly...
Protests Could Prompt New Democratic Revolutions in the Gulf
The past eight years have not been particularly kind to the Gulf counter-revolution. Its one...
Nineteen Ways You Know It’s Passover in Israel
JNS.org - If you’ve never heard an Arab calling out alter zachen (“old things”) in...
Why Do We Eat Matzah on Passover? For Humility
The Talmud, in tractate Berachoth (17a), poses the question of why it is forbidden to eat...
Setting Aside a Matzah for Israel’s Remaining Missing Soldiers
JNS.org - Standing among thousands at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem, I felt...
Passover: When Jews Stepped Into History on Our Terms
JNS.org - In his important book Power and Powerlessness in Jewish History, the historian David Biale noted that the very first ancient Egyptian reference to...
Israeli Victories on Earth — and in Space
While Israel is a small country, its history and dreams rival those of global powers. Just two days after the Israeli spacecraft Beresheet crashed into...
From Passover to the Holocaust: The Ongoing Jewish Story of Redemption
JNS.org - Last Friday night, Jews around the world once again sat at the seder table and retold the Passover narrative -- the dramatic story of...
Anticipating Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’
JNS.org - Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict surfaced two years ago, and to this day -- remarkably -- only he and a...
Alan Dershowitz Should Come Clean About Qatar
Alan Dershowitz published a blistering response to my column asking him why he was publicly pressuring Israel to create a Palestinian state when he would...
Protests Could Prompt New Democratic Revolutions in the Gulf
The past eight years have not been particularly kind to the Gulf counter-revolution. Its one success, Egypt, has produced some of the harshest repression in the...
Nineteen Ways You Know It’s Passover in Israel
JNS.org - If you’ve never heard an Arab calling out alter zachen (“old things”) in Yiddish, then you’ve never experienced pre-Passover preparations in Jerusalem. It’s...
Why Do We Eat Matzah on Passover? For Humility
The Talmud, in tractate Berachoth (17a), poses the question of why it is forbidden to eat or even to possess chametz on Pesach. What is there...
Setting Aside a Matzah for Israel’s Remaining Missing Soldiers
JNS.org - Standing among thousands at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem, I felt that an important piece of my life was coming full-circle....
State and Religion in Israel on Pesach
The return of a right-wing government in Israel, heavily reliant on religious parties, is a matter of some concern because of the increasing encroachment of...
A Pesach Lesson From Entebbe
Last month, former airline pilot Michel Bacos died in France at the age of 94. Although Bacos had been retired for many years, his extraordinary...
The Annexation of the Settlements
On the eve of his re-election as prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu indicated on Israeli television that he intended to extend Israeli sovereignty over Jewish settlements,...
The Founding Fathers of Israel’s Scientific Legacy
While technically a failure, the crash landing of an Israeli space probe on the moon’s surface was successful in many respects. It was also the...
Netanyahu’s Victory — and What Comes Next
Israeli voters have chosen Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in what was essentially a referendum over whether he should be re-elected to a fifth term in...
