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Joshua Hammerman

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Jun 21, 2018, 1:33 AM

An American Jew in Israel

Dear Israel, Next week, I’m bringing a group of congregants, primarily first-timers, to Israel for a tour. I’ve led about a dozen groups during my years as a rabbi, and I’ve been to Israel many other times, including a full...

May 31, 2018, 11:07 PM

Sheldon, George: Let’s talk

A sign of the polarization of American Jewry: J Street activists deliver a petition to the US Senate opposing the nomination of David Friedman as ambassador to Israel, February 28, 2017. (J Street/JTA)

If there's a way out of the echo chambers, the joint leadership of the Jewish world's polar opposites should find it

May 25, 2018, 6:06 PM

Ari Ben Portnoy

Philip Roth (Douglas Healey/AP)

Are we the fighter or the kvetcher? The noble or the nebbish? The Philip Roth - Leon Uris battle still resonates

Apr 16, 2018, 7:37 PM

A blessing for Tax Day

US taxes, dollars, hands cut money on plate, reduce funds concept. (via iStock)

There is indeed -- it's a prayer of gratitude for the honor of enabling the government to do its job

Apr 3, 2018, 11:26 PM

Dr King, Passover and the Urgency of Now

Reb Nachman of Bratzlav stated about the Exodus: One needs to leave Mitzrayim (Egypt) with great haste (Exodus 12:39). This truth is reaffirmed in each person and in each era. In each person and in each time, there can be found a...

Mar 29, 2018, 9:24 PM

A Pesach Handmaid’s Tale: Freedom To vs. Freedom From

"There is more than one kind of freedom," says Aunt Lydia in Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel, "The Handmaid's Tale," recently brought to life in an award-winning miniseries; "freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was...

Mar 18, 2018, 2:32 PM

Marching for our lives by hopping on the Shab-bus

Illustrative: Students protesting against gun violence on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, February 21, 2018. (Alex Wong/Getty Images via JTA)

The gun control rally is so important that I, a rabbi, am going to blatantly disrupt God’s holy Sabbath

Jan 27, 2018, 1:19 AM

Why God — and Ben Franklin — pick the Patriots

I have a foolproof way to pick the Super Bowl winner using Jewish sources and I'm almost never wrong

Dec 15, 2017, 2:26 PM

Right decision. Wrong decider

US President Donald Trump signing a proclamation that the US government will formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, at the White House in Washington, DC, December 6, 2017. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images via JTA)

Was Trump's US Embassy move impulsive, diversionary, or purely political?

Nov 16, 2017, 10:16 PM

David and Bathsheba, by Raphael Santi, in 1519. (public domain)

The Talmud says yes, creating barriers to protect them from succumbing to their predatory natures

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About Me

Rockower Award-winning journalist, father, husband, son, friend, poodle-owner, Red Sox fan and rabbi of Temple Beth El in Stamford, CT