Spirituality/Tradition
The Aliyah Trail: End of Ulpan, Apartment-Hunting and Moving
JNS.org - This week marked the biggest transition point for me since making aliyah — the end of the five-month ulpan (Hebrew-language immersion school) has...
If We Reframe Our Emotions, We Can Achieve Anything
Maimonides called his ideal type of human being -- the sage -- a rofe nefashot, a “healer of souls.” Today we call such a person a psychotherapist, a word coined relatively recently from the Greek word psyche, meaning “soul,” and therapeia,...
Reflecting on the Jewish Experience in America
Puddingstone is a novel by Mark Mirsky about a Jew growing up in the area near Franklin Park in Boston in the 1960s. It's a world where young Irish bullies torment young geeky Jewish boys. The...
National Jewish Community Relations Umbrella Names New CEO
JNS.org - The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), an umbrella organization representing 125 Jewish community relations councils (JCRCs) across the United States, this week named David Bernstein as its next president and CEO. Bernstein is the...
The Moral Reasons Why the Israeli Occupation Must End
There are four ethical theories -- Kantian, utilitarian, virtue-based, and religious -- that demonstrate the lack of moral foundation...
How to Wait Without Despair
Something extraordinary happens between last week’s parsha and this week’s. It is almost as if...
Hanukkah Candles Lend Warmth and Community to Ailing Ukraine
JNS.org - In the United States, there are those who believe Christmas has swallowed Hanukkah whole,...
A Hanukkah Miracle in Israel
JNS.org - When I was a kid, Hanukkah was my favorite holiday. I loved the family...
Hanukkah Memories
Any holiday celebrated with chocolate coins became my instant boyhood favorite. Years before my bar...
The Aliyah Trail: End of Ulpan, Apartment-Hunting and Moving
JNS.org - This week marked the biggest transition point for me since making aliyah — the end of the five-month ulpan (Hebrew-language immersion school) has come,...
If We Reframe Our Emotions, We Can Achieve Anything
Maimonides called his ideal type of human being -- the sage -- a rofe nefashot, a “healer of souls.” Today we call such a person a psychotherapist, a word...
Reflecting on the Jewish Experience in America
Puddingstone is a novel by Mark Mirsky about a Jew growing up in the area near Franklin Park in Boston in the 1960s. It's a world...
National Jewish Community Relations Umbrella Names New CEO
JNS.org - The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), an umbrella organization representing 125 Jewish community relations councils (JCRCs) across the United States, this week named...
The Moral Reasons Why the Israeli Occupation Must End
There are four ethical theories -- Kantian, utilitarian, virtue-based, and religious -- that demonstrate the lack of moral foundation in the continuing the occupation. Israelis have the responsibility to...
How to Wait Without Despair
Something extraordinary happens between last week’s parsha and this week’s. It is almost as if the pause of a week between them were itself part...
Hanukkah Candles Lend Warmth and Community to Ailing Ukraine
JNS.org - In the United States, there are those who believe Christmas has swallowed Hanukkah whole, reducing it to a sort of Christmas for Jews. But...
A Hanukkah Miracle in Israel
JNS.org - When I was a kid, Hanukkah was my favorite holiday. I loved the family get-togethers, the latkes my mom made, and of course, celebrating...
Hanukkah Memories
Any holiday celebrated with chocolate coins became my instant boyhood favorite. Years before my bar mitzvah I was eager for Hanukkah, when eight nights of...
Meet Haym Salomon: America’s First Jewish Hero
Sitting in the audience this past Thursday at the Republican Jewish Coalition presidential candidate’s forum, I was joined by hundreds of other Jews, dozing in and out...
Orthodox Rabbis Advocate Christian-Jewish Partnership
JNS.org - A group of Orthodox Jewish rabbis is advocating for increased partnership between Christians and Jews. More than 25 Orthodox rabbis from Israel, the US and Europe...
Finding a Balance in the Meaning of Hanukkah
The Hanukkah story is a good example of how a religious culture can develop over time and why. It is, in fact, based on historically documented...
To Defeat ISIS, We Must Call Young People to a Greater Purpose
The Maccabee war of our time is happening right now. It is a war over the values that will dominate our world. Only the connection between us...
Hanukkah Guide for the Perplexed, 2015
1. Hanukkah’s historical context, according to the Books of the Maccabees, The Scroll of Antiochus and The War of the Jews by Joseph Ben Mattityahu (Josephus Plavius) is as...
