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Jul 8, 2018, 5:46 PM

Why I’m Not Studying Abroad

Studying abroad junior year of college has become a bit of a cliché. Hypothetically, it’s a great opportunity for young people to learn about another country and themselves. I genuinely think that everyone should study abroad if they can....

Ben-Tzion Spitz

Jul 8, 2018, 3:49 PM

Pinchas: Secret Jews

If most of us remain ignorant of ourselves, it is because self-knowledge is painful, and we prefer the pleasures of illusion. -Aldous Huxley During my years in Uruguay, I met multiple people who had discovered, some quite recently, that they...

Jul 7, 2018, 12:55 AM

No Future For American Jews

At the risk of sounding fatalist, I do not believe there is a viable future for American Jews. Let me explain, because I'm an American Jew, and far be it from me to preach doom and gloom to my...

Robert L. Wolkoff

Jul 6, 2018, 11:18 PM

Liberal Jews Cause Earthquakes. Who Knew?

It is no coincidence that Parshat Pinchas, which centers on blind zealotry, always comes during the build up to Tisha B’av, which commemorates the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem—which was destroyed, the rabbis tell us, because of sinat...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Jul 6, 2018, 8:37 PM

Guess who was not involved in the sin of the spies?

When we speak about Chet HaMiraglim, the sin of the spies, we mention that Yehoshua and Calev were the only two of the twelve spies who did not bring a false report and they were therefore not punished as...

Jul 6, 2018, 12:55 AM

The lost masterpiece

Illustrative: Michal Baratz Koren's portrait of the five daughters of Zelophehad, who first raised before Moses the case of a woman’s right and obligation to inherit property in the absence of a male (Courtesy, Michal Baratz Koren)

If women like Zelophehad's daughters had gone out to spy the land, they'd never have spoken negatively of it (Pinchas)

Harvey M. Lederman

Jul 5, 2018, 9:41 PM

The Jewish angle for this triathlete

Illustrative: Competitors make their way from the finish area at the London Marathon in 2010. (Tom Hevezi/AP)

If my motivation flags, I think of Maimonides and his scorn for those who don't exercise

Nathan Lopes Cardozo

Jul 4, 2018, 2:00 PM

The Search for God

The Greatness and the Present Setback of Halachic Living Taken from a chapter in Jewish Law as Rebellion. A Plea for Religious Authenticity and Halachic Courage. Urim Publications, 2018 There is little doubt that Halacha greatly complicates life for the...

Jul 4, 2018, 1:13 PM

One Jewish people; two Jewish worlds

Israelis hold American and Israeli flags with the new US Embassy in the background in Jerusalem, May 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

It's not that Diaspora Jewry isn't Zionist, but that they would run the Jewish state in a very different way

Jul 4, 2018, 7:28 AM

Walking through the valley of the shadow of death

Illustrative. Flowers. (iStock)

My health crisis is not over, but I am living it with joy, intentionality, and an eagerness for more

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