Spirituality/Tradition
The Jewish People Is a True Family
I argued in Covenant and Conversation Kedoshim that Judaism is more than an ethnicity. It is a call to holiness. In one sense, however, there is...
Will Methodists Choose Peace?
JNS.org - Methodists know how important face-to-face meetings are for reconciliation. The Church’s history is replete with ruptures that were healed only after honest and sincere dialogue. The process often took years. Yet that is not the...
What Does It Mean to Love Your Neighbor?
Last week we returned, in our cycle of reading the Torah each week, to the iconic, indeed universal, “VeAhavta LeReyacha Kamocha” (Leviticus 19:18), which is usually translated in English as, “And you shall love your neighbor...
How Some Religious Leaders in Israel Are Disgracing the Torah
Last week, tens of thousands of Israelis were prevented from traveling on their normal roads to get home. Not because of a terror threat, and not because of construction. Rather, hundreds of yeshiva students followed the...
Fashion Designer Diane von Furstenberg Says She Is ‘Torch of Freedom’ for Holocaust Survivor Mother
Famed fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg said on Tuesday night that she sees herself as...
Judaica and Memorabilia Connect Us To the Past
A date in a calendar is strengthened when history can be held and cherished. Last week,...
Shabbat Is a Gift From God
The parsha of Emor contains a chapter dedicated to the festivals of the Jewish year....
Israel Is Powerful, But It Is Also Right
Until last week, I thought that I had heard just about everything bad anyone had...
The Yitro Effect and US-Israel Relations
Israel never had a greater ally and supporter than Yitro (Jethro), Moshe’s father-in-law, a ger tzedek, a righteous convert. Vayichad...
The Jewish People Is a True Family
I argued in Covenant and Conversation Kedoshim that Judaism is more than an ethnicity. It is a call to holiness. In one sense, however, there is an...
Will Methodists Choose Peace?
JNS.org - Methodists know how important face-to-face meetings are for reconciliation. The Church’s history is replete with ruptures that were healed only after honest and sincere...
What Does It Mean to Love Your Neighbor?
Last week we returned, in our cycle of reading the Torah each week, to the iconic, indeed universal, “VeAhavta LeReyacha Kamocha” (Leviticus 19:18), which is usually...
How Some Religious Leaders in Israel Are Disgracing the Torah
Last week, tens of thousands of Israelis were prevented from traveling on their normal roads to get home. Not because of a terror threat, and...
Fashion Designer Diane von Furstenberg Says She Is ‘Torch of Freedom’ for Holocaust Survivor Mother
Famed fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg said on Tuesday night that she sees herself as a "torch of freedom" for her mother, who survived the...
Judaica and Memorabilia Connect Us To the Past
A date in a calendar is strengthened when history can be held and cherished. Last week, Israel remembered the Holocaust, and this week marked Memorial Day for...
Shabbat Is a Gift From God
The parsha of Emor contains a chapter dedicated to the festivals of the Jewish year. There are five such passages in the Torah. Two, both...
Israel Is Powerful, But It Is Also Right
Until last week, I thought that I had heard just about everything bad anyone had to say about Israel -- that no anti-Israel statement would ever shock...
The Yitro Effect and US-Israel Relations
Israel never had a greater ally and supporter than Yitro (Jethro), Moshe’s father-in-law, a ger tzedek, a righteous convert. Vayichad Yitro al kol hatovah asher asah Hashem l’Yisrael (Shemot 19:9), “And Yitro rejoiced at...
Israeli Independence Day: An Unyielding Marriage of 3,500 Years
This year’s Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israeli Independence day) commemorates the 68th anniversary of a marriage that has lasted more than 3,500 years. This may sound like a...
Censorship Never Works
I have always hated the idea of censorship. It never really works. As Proverbs says, “Food eaten in secret always tastes better.” Nothing encourages evil...
The Blessing of a Big Family
Pictures don't lie, but they don't tell the whole truth either. They just capture a moment -- a split-second in time. Our family recently captured a split-second...
Auschwitz Survivor Brings Crowd to Tears at Manhattan Holocaust Remembrance Event
On May 4, 1944, the Nazis rounded up many of the Jews in Hungary. Most did not live to tell their story. Stefania Hecht did, and...
Remember Them
Six-year old Abraham Freiburg had fled with his mother and long entertained the notion that Tati -- the Yiddish word for Daddy -- was only missing...
