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A wedding present in the making since before he was born (illustrative: BongkarnThanyakij / iStock)

Romi Sussman

I have kept this secret for 25 years

As my oldest son prepared to marry, the time finally came to share something I’d been making for him since he was a baby

Tamar Pross

When my Israeli son asked me ‘What is Jewish?’

It took moving our family to Australia for me to understand what my 9-year-old had always taken for granted

A recording and transcription of the Agranat Commission. (Lkahan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sagit Alkobi Fishman

The Yom Kippur lesson Israel still needs after October 7

No inquiry can guarantee that an Israeli ‘conception’ won’t collapse down the road, but it can turn a catastrophe into an event we learn from, and that’s worth it

Yesh Atid MK Debbie Biton taken out by Knesset guards during a a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on June 25, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90/ File)

Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll

Making Yom Kippur count

Fasting is easy. What’s hard is taking responsibility not for our close circles, but for those with whom we vehemently disagree

The Gothics. (Wikipedia)

Henry Greenspan

The Trail Book of Life

Hiking in the Adirondacks on Yom Kippur yielded its own kind of spiritual resplendence, though I couldn’t stop myself poking fun at fellow transgressors there

(iStock)

Ben Lazarus

Who am I kidding? Not G-d

I have questions, and I’m angry sometimes, but Yom Kippur isn’t about what He did to me; rather, I need to account for what I have and haven’t accomplished

FILE: A rabbinical student reads at the Synagogue of the Black Hills in Rapid City, S.D., September 12, 2014. (AP Photo/Kristina Barker)

Jon Argaman

What I learned from editing 50 High Holiday sermons

The topics ranged from ICE to Israel, but the rabbis I worked with all sought answers to the same question: How can Jews live with chronic crisis?

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Sep 22, 2026, 7:45 PM

The twisted call for the destruction of only Israel by the British Green Party

Screenshot from the UK Times and Sunday Times X account earlier in 2026

"Zionism is Racism". Really? So where does Hamas fit in, a proscribed terrorist group in charge of Gaza that wants not only to murder the Jews of Israel, but also Jews worldwide? Are they all sweet and light? Or...

Sep 22, 2026, 7:21 PM

‘Know Before Whom You Stand’: How Hebrew Creates Belonging

How Serious Hebrew Education Creates Readiness, Recognition, and Belonging Jewish tradition teaches, דַּע לִפְנֵי מִי אַתָּה עוֹמֵד, know before whom you stand (Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 28b). The words ask us to recognize the presence before us and the responsibility that...

Sep 22, 2026, 6:42 PM

Jerusalem – and Benjamin Netanyahu

Please cast your mind back to 27 September 2012. On that day, 14 years ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He spoke of Jerusalem’s 3000-year history; he spoke...

Sep 22, 2026, 6:40 PM

Get your head out of the washing machine

Why do people have more anxiety today than ever before? You should be happy. Things are easier. There is so much gashmius (physical pleasures) available today. There is so much instant gratification. Nevertheless, we have more anxiety. You are putting your head in a washing...

Sagit Alkobi Fishman

Sep 22, 2026, 6:39 PM

‘Their Place Is Not With Us’? Citizenship Is Not a Reward

“Hit them in their pockets and in their citizenship,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week, announcing two proposed laws aimed at people he says defame Israeli soldiers abroad. One would dramatically increase damages in defamation cases. The other...

Daniel R. Weiss

Sep 22, 2026, 6:35 PM

Are We Raising Golems, or Wise Children?

AI-generated image

Are we raising golems, or wise children? A parent wrote to us recently, worried. She had read an article about what constant access to AI might be doing to the way kids think, and she wanted to know, plainly,...

Sep 22, 2026, 6:33 PM

The Greater Good

I walked in the door just as she began to lose consciousness and slip away from us. She was pale, clammy, and cold to the touch. Her pulse was racing and her blood pressure was plummeting. There was blood...

Menachem Creditor

Sep 22, 2026, 6:30 PM

We Build the Shelter

artwork: Ariel Creditor

In honor of the dedication of the new home for Queens Hillel There is a beautiful Jewish custom to begin constructing the sukkah as soon as the fast has ended. We do not linger too long in the grandeur of...

Jannus TH Siahaan

Sep 22, 2026, 6:29 PM

Why Pezeshkian’s Maritime Olive Branch is Economic Coercion

When Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stepped onto the global stage at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, his delegation brought a carefully crafted narrative designed specifically to resonate with Western economic anxieties. Tehran, Pezeshkian implicitly signaled, stands...

Sep 22, 2026, 6:26 PM

Three Years Later, Lebanon Is Where Peace Could Emerge

Three years ago this fall, Hamas' massacre in southern Israel exposed how far Israeli deterrence had eroded. Only months before the attack, Hezbollah pitched military tents on the Israeli side of the border near Mount Dov. Israel's own national...

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