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Kesim, Ethiopian rabbinical leaders, at a Sigd celebration at Jerusalem's Haas Promenade when thousands gather to pray and recite Psalms. (Flash90)

Look to Ethiopian Judaism to truly understand unity

The principle that everyone is equal before God can serve as a foundation for a shared Israeli identity

Salman Al-Ansari

Salman Al-Ansari

A ‘Samuel Accord’ for Saudi Arabia and Israel

It’s time for courageous steps that can guide the Middle East and the world toward cooperation and healthy competition

(Pheelings Media / iStock)

A green oasis for the soul: What just one good-news post can do

Amidst the endless flow of bad news and toxic messaging, even a single positive post can bring light to the darkness

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi seen before the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office, September 10, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Did you think they wouldn’t go after the free press?

Communication Minister Karhi’s proposed media reform is a terrifying attack on the independence of Israeli news outlets

Illustrative. Then-chief of staff David Elazar speaks with one of the repatriated wounded Israeli POWs at the Tel HaShomer Hospital, on November 16, 1973. (Ron Ilan/GPO)

Caroline G. Harris

Cease fire! A memory of the Yom Kippur War

I was an American visitor to a ward of amputees and all I could do was help sing ‘David Melekh Yisrael’ (David, king of Israel)

Activists from the Rosh Yehudi organization set up a 'mechitzah' divider made of Israeli flags ahead of a public prayer event in Dizengoff Square, Tel Aviv, on Yom Kippur eve. September 24, 2023. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash 90)

Tel Aviv won’t change nor should it

Israelis are being pulled in two dramatically different directions, one devoutly Orthodox and the other passionately secular

(courtesy)

The Book of Kohelet and a cup of joy

Sure, Ecclesiastes pitches existential dread, but its clusters of optimism remind us that there’s a time for everything, even coffee

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Latest posts

Oct 3, 2023, 8:39 PM

I write these words not alone, but in the company of six million souls who cannot stand and accuse their tormentors, who cannot cry out “J’accuse!” For their remains rest in the heaps upon the hills of Auschwitz, the...

Kenneth Jacobson

Oct 3, 2023, 8:31 PM

The could-be historic Israel-Saudi deal

The impending agreement between the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel holds out historic possibilities for the region and the Jewish state, while also raising challenges that have long afflicted the area. As has been said many times already, getting Saudi...

Michael Feldstein

Oct 3, 2023, 7:11 PM

Aliyah’s New Youth Movement

My friend of 50-plus years, Rabbi Hillel Fendel, recently published an article, “Approaching Aliyah – Youthfully.” He bemoans the fact that many American Jews have used excuses about why they have not made aliyah earlier in their lives, and...

Oct 3, 2023, 6:50 PM

A Regular Demonstration in Or-Akiva

Here are my remarks at the demonstration last Saturday in Or-Akiva - a not-so-large community that cares a lot about Israel and will not give up. -- Good evening, Or-Akiva! It's good to be here tonight and meet people who care....

Barbara Pfeffer Billauer

Oct 3, 2023, 6:28 PM

Why We Celebrate Sukkot: A New Look

One reason Sukkot is celebrated is to remind us that all life is transient. We live in huts to remind us that our houses are flimsy, our very existence is tenuous, everything is over in the cosmic blink of...

Onnie Schiffmiller

Oct 3, 2023, 6:11 PM

It’s About Family

I am a product of the 1960s/70s Conservative branch of Judaism. My parents set a high standard for Jewish communal involvement, and our synagogue was my second home. Young girls in our community were permitted, even encouraged, to read...

Barry L. Schwartz

Oct 3, 2023, 5:29 PM

The Open Judaism Blogs #2: Three Views of Torah

I write this as we approach the holiday of Simchat Torah and join in the celebration of our sacred inheritance. If you have ever been to a Jewish service, you know that everything changes the moment the ark opens and...

Simcha Feuerman

Oct 3, 2023, 5:17 PM

Motivation for Mitzvos and True Wisdom Kiddushin 50-53 Psychology of the Daf Yomi

50 Religion Without Resentment Our Gemara on Amud Aleph discusses that when someone prefers to bring an offering, if he wants to reneg, the Jewish court compels him to fulfill his pledge. However, since the verse (Vayikra 1:3) implies that it...

Sheldon Kirshner

Oct 3, 2023, 5:10 PM

To Be Or Not To Be

Several months before the United States entered World War II, following Japan's destructive bombing raid on Pearl Harbor, the German-American director Ernst Lubitsch started production on a new feature film, To Be Or Not To Be. An unrelentingly dark satire...

Oct 3, 2023, 3:28 PM

Look to Ethiopian Judaism to truly understand unity

Kesim, Ethiopian rabbinical leaders, at a Sigd celebration at Jerusalem's Haas Promenade when thousands gather to pray and recite Psalms. (Flash90)

The principle that everyone is equal before God can serve as a foundation for a shared Israeli identity

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