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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 10, 2018, 6:02 PM

Beit Ha Lohem-House of the Warriors

The sprawling grounds of Beit Ha Lohem, located outside of Tel Aviv, as it translates into House of Warriors (Fighters) only meant one thing to me. I admit that the first time I went to the club, designed for the...

Apr 18, 2018, 10:50 AM

Since Passover, Diaspora Jews have been playing catch-up in terms of reading the Torah, That's why there are four answers to the question of "What's this week's portion?" In the Diaspora, Leviticus 12-15 will be read, Tazria and Metzora;...

Feb 8, 2018, 6:20 AM

Jonah and the Whale Who Wasn’t

The biblical Book of Jonah can be found in the collection of twelve minor prophets. Containing only four chapters it is the smallest book in the Bible and yet is one of the most popular. Jonah ben Amittai lived...

Jan 30, 2018, 12:50 AM

Anne Frank, where have you gone? The death of Holocaust memory

Anne sat at her desk in the Mamilla Mall looking for a home. A naked electric bulb hung over her head. She was supposed to go to a Jerusalem Holocaust museum until internal politics and money became an issue. ...

Jan 19, 2018, 8:36 PM

Menachem Begin, Israel’s Greatest Leader

In my "Modern Israel" class in school, we discussed the Camp David Accords of 1978 which resulted in a peace treaty between the Egyptians and Israelis. This treaty had always been the most intriguing part of Israeli history to...

Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll

Jan 8, 2018, 11:13 PM

Beit Shemesh: We are no longer one people

Police stand guard as Beit Shemesh municipal workers take down "modesty" signs in the city on December 11, 2017. (Yaakov Lederman/Flash90)

That moment when an ultra-Orthodox teenager looked at me in a way that clearly said I was not a Jew like she is

Dec 24, 2017, 3:06 PM

The essence of Judaism and religion — Orthodox (faith) or Orthoprax (good deeds)

There is an ancient debate in the Talmudic tradition concerning the question as to the essence of Judaism and religion – faith or good deeds. Rashi (the great commentator of the 11th century) cites a debate between two great Talmudic...

Dec 17, 2017, 7:21 PM

The verse ‘I am the Lord your God’

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, in his blog on the Torah reading of the week (Va’etchanan 5777), presents two arguments in the Jewish tradition regarding the opening verse of the “10 statements” (and the Biblical term is “10 statements” and not...

Dec 10, 2017, 4:17 PM

Heresy and moral atheism

Maimonides (the great legal scholar and philosopher of the 12th century) is the first and only thinker in the Jewish tradition to codify principles of faith within a legal framework as a binding theological dogma in codifying his “13...

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