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Sivan Rahav Meir

Jun 24, 2018, 1:09 PM

Democrats, Lieberman, and the political future

Illustrative: Sen. Joseph Lieberman, left, with Sen. John McCain at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, January 31, 2014. (Joerg Koch/Getty Images via JTA)

The Jewish narrative is far larger than any current enmeshment with the Republican Party

May 28, 2018, 7:45 AM

A lesson in kindness and the giving of oneself

I am finding that this world has become a judgmental and harsh place. Online and off, there are too many examples of people ranting, raving, judging, hurting, excluding others. In this context, I can’t help but wonder why more...

William Hamilton

May 25, 2018, 5:46 PM

Presentation of Colors

“A flag, what is that?” rhetorically asks Theodore Herzl in a letter to a philanthropist following their unproductive meeting. “A stick with a rag on it? No, sir, a flag is more than that. For a flag men will...

May 24, 2018, 10:31 PM

The Old City of Jerusalem

As we were walking to the Old City of Jerusalem, in the late hours of the night, I was thinking, how this place is like a magnet to so many people, It draws people back, time and time again. Last...

Avraham Bronstein

May 24, 2018, 12:25 AM

“Relatively Speaking”

Last week, the Wiesenthal Center’s Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper issued a statement thanking President Trump for withdrawing the US from the Iran nuclear agreement. In their statement, they asserted that “Lying is the National Anthem and Magna...

Stuart Hershkowitz

May 23, 2018, 2:03 PM

Does ‘day and night’ provide enough time to balance Torah and academic studies?

Shavuot, the holiday that celebrates the receiving of the Torah, serves as a reminder of the centrality of religious studies in Jewish life. In fact, the famous verse from Joshua 1:8 says “Vehagita bo yomam valayla,” that we should...

Nathan Lopes Cardozo

May 23, 2018, 12:14 PM

Why a Second Day Yom Tov?

The Incomparable Greatness of the Land of Israel One of the most puzzling laws in Halacha (Jewish Law) is the requirement to observe a second day Yom Tov (festival) in all Jewish communities outside of Israel. Before the establishment of a...

May 22, 2018, 5:08 PM

Shavuot Revisited

Dear Avigail, I’ve been hearing rumors about when we are getting this long-anticipated gift from G-d – the Torah*. I don’t really know what all the fracas and hoo ha is all about. What is a Torah? Is it heavy?...

Sivan Rahav Meir

May 22, 2018, 1:56 PM

A night of perfect grace in Jerusalem

The Western Wall. (photo credit: Sliman Khader/Flash 90)

If you weren't there, among those learning and worshiping till dawn on Shavuot, you might never know it happened

Allen S. Maller

May 20, 2018, 7:53 AM

Why you have many dates for Shavuot

Kabbalists and Hassidim brought encountering God's love through a personal experience into the center of Shavuot. They taught that only on this day does the hidden Ayn Sof descend through ten Divine dimensions of Sefirot into our mundane reality,...

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