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(Getty Images via JTA)

My son didn’t walk away from Judaism. I walked away from him

His intermarriage awakened my fears about betraying our Jewish ancestors. It took 10 years to understand that the living were waiting for my love

New York City Hall

Jonathan Jacoby

An open letter to Jonathan Greenblatt: This time, choose engagement

The ADL praised Trump while criticizing parts of his antisemitism policy. Why not take the same approach to Mamdani’s new plan for safeguarding Jewish New Yorkers?

Asaf Rajuan, one of the Israeli passengers who intervened in a terror attack on the pilot by his first officer on a flydubai flight, hugs another passenger from the same flight, as they arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, September 30, 2026. (AP Photo/ Ariel Schalit)

Michael Oren

Flydubai Flight FZ1073 and the indomitability of the Jews

We love life in ways that will always outpace the death-cult of those who would destroy us and we will always rise up to defend it – even if we had somewhere else to go

Image by the author and her AI friends

Shira Pasternak Be'eri

Simchat Torah: Where there’s change, I find hope

Dancing with the Torah was once a hard sell for many Orthodox women, but it’s the default for the next generation in my shul – a quiet revolution on the women’s side

Ari Applbaum

What Sukkot knows about the mental load

Despite our egalitarian ideals, my wife runs our home for 51 weeks a year. And then, for one long holiday, Jewish law gives men like me that experience

After death, creation: Simchat Torah in the shadow of October 7

We finish the Torah with mourning and immediately go back to the beginning, refusing to let destruction have the final word

A group of Kfar Aza evacuees gathered in a group hug for the Priestly Blessing (Oct. 19, 2023)

Yonatan Cohen

A blessing of love: Recalled

I raised my hands in the Priestly Blessing countless times, but I felt like a fraud. I didn’t feel blessed myself, until a friend restored the love underneath it all

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Oct 3, 2026, 7:56 PM

Three Years, One Unit: The October 7 War Through a Combat Medic’s Eyes

My IDF Palmar unit medivacing a wounded soldier from Gaza. Photo ©️ T. Book, 2026

On October 7, 2023, at 6:29 a.m., sirens shattered a quiet morning. I assumed it was another routine rocket attack. Within minutes, the reports made clear it was anything but. I still can't believe three years have passed since the...

Zakarie Mohamed Abdi

Oct 3, 2026, 7:53 PM

Beyond Irro’s US Visit: Next steps for Washington–Hargeisa Relations

President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi ‘Irro’ spent nearly two weeks in the United States from 5 to 19 September 2026, engaging in Washington and New York to press Somaliland’s case for deeper international engagement. His program included discussions with lawmakers,...

Oct 3, 2026, 7:47 PM

UNRWA: Reforms? The Question of Trust Remains

Two years after the Colonna Report, UNRWA says it has significantly strengthened its neutrality safeguards. A new report by UN Watch challenges how much those reforms have actually accomplished. Between Israeli allegations, United Nations investigations, US inquiries, and UNRWA’s...

Oct 3, 2026, 7:25 PM

When the State misleads itself

A lack of information seldom causes disastrous political decisions, though it remains one of the handiest excuses. Officials offer three claims: the leadership was in the dark, the reports failed to reach it or state agencies misread the situation....

Sheldon Kirshner

Oct 3, 2026, 7:22 PM

October 7: An Election Campaign Issue In Israel

The single blackest day in Israel's history, Hamas' attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, has become a contentious campaign issue less than a month before the October 27 general election. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's opponents pin this massive...

Gershon Blumstein

Oct 3, 2026, 7:19 PM

The Judaism That Refuses to Choose

Tradition, Change, and the Jewish Conversation That Belongs to All of Us Every Jewish movement has a story it tells about itself. Orthodoxy speaks in the language of preservation. Reform speaks in the language of moral evolution. But Conservative Judaism speaks...

Oct 3, 2026, 2:13 PM

From Prophecy to Statehood: The Christians Behind the Road to Israel

Christianity, Restorationism, and the Road to 1948 Part I of a Seven-Part Series Part I of a Seven-Part Series The modern State of Israel was not created by Christians. Jewish Zionists built the movement, institutions, communities, political organizations, and eventually the military...

Kostis Konstantinou

Oct 3, 2026, 1:37 PM

Another Myth Falls Apart: Our Slain ‘Colleagues’

It was one of the most powerful narratives of the Gaza war: first dozens, then hundreds, of “journalists” were killed. Names on lists, photographs in tributes, numbers in headlines — and the same conclusion: Israel had made journalists targets. Except...

Nassir Hussein Kahin

Oct 3, 2026, 1:34 PM

If Bab el-Mandeb Cannot Be Restored, the Strategic Map Moves to Berbera

The battle over Bab el-Mandeb is reshaping the strategic geography connecting Yemen, Djibouti and Somaliland, increasing attention on Berbera and Hargeisa. Original HOASR infographic illustration.

The coming battle over the Red Sea chokepoint will determine more than who controls a Yemeni coastline. It could reshape the strategic value of the African shore—and place Berbera and Hargeisa closer to the center of a security system...

Jannus TH Siahaan

Oct 3, 2026, 1:22 PM

Israel May Be Becoming the Rear Base of America’s Iran Strategy

America’s latest military buildup in the Middle East is being read largely through the familiar language of escalation. Washington is sending the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group toward the region, alongside the USS Makin Island amphibious ready group,...

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