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Lee Shira Wilson

Making the women of our story part of us: Ushpizot

For years, I thought about how the classic symbolic biblical male guests we invite into our sukkahs should include women. This year, I’m making it happen

Filmmaker Leslie Gelrubin Benitah sees the devastation wrought on Kibbutz Be'eri during the Hamas assault of October 7, 2023, in this still from 'Milk and Honey, Blood and Tears.' (Courtesy)

Which Israeli stories are we allowed to tell?

Films shape memory and empathy, so show Palestinian suffering, but show Jewish suffering too or skew how millions who weren’t there on Oct. 7 understand what happened

Staff Sgt. Shirel Haim Pour who was killed in Nahal Oz on October 7, 2023. And Jina Mahsa Amini an Iranian woman who died unexpectedly on September 16, 2022, while in custody of Iran’s 'morality police' for 'improper' clothing.

Nassrin Pourbahrami

Mahsa and Shirel share a wall in Jerusalem

I grew up being taught that Israel was the enemy. Now I see Iranians and Israelis rediscovering ties the Islamic Republic tried to erase

(Gemini)

Jaclyn S. Clark

Macklemore got dumped. Pink got canceled. Everyone else lost their minds

A billionaire stadium owner – not headliner Ed Sheeran – had the courage to fire the bigoted rapper. What came next was even worse

Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham (left) meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, December 21, 2025. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

Lindsey Graham’s white whale

The late US senator thought Saudi-Israel normalization was within reach. He misread Netanyahu on Palestinian statehood

Illustrative: Israelis at a cafe in Tel Aviv, on May 18, 2025. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Jamie Feder

Why this liberal New Yorker made aliyah

When I moved to Israel, some friends disappeared. Hundreds unfollowed me. But all that rejection made me more comfortable with who I am and what I believe

Personal archive

Nurit Gil

The report card no one sees

In Israel, I learned to measure my children’s education not only by their grades, but also by how they navigate the country, cook a meal – and deal with war

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Sep 17, 2026, 11:01 AM

Collateral Benefit

The real test raised by NAZA - the Hebrew military acronym for collateral damage - is not whether its filmmakers are right. It is whether a state confident in its force is equally confident in evidence, law and institutions...

Sep 17, 2026, 11:00 AM

Where Were You When? The Landmarks of Our Marriage

How did two separate lives become an “US”? That question brings us to the finale of our three-part From “ME” to “US” Marriage Renewal Series. Blog 1, “Ten Days, Ten Traits: Take the Marriage Challenge,” challenged us to recognize the traits...

Richard H. Schwartz

Sep 17, 2026, 10:59 AM

Patriotism Is Not Blind Loyalty: Why Jews Should Challenge Israel to Live Up to Its Highest Values

A profound difference exists between loving one's country and believing it can do no wrong. The old slogan, “My country, right or wrong,” asks citizens to put national loyalty above conscience. But that is not the highest form of patriotism....

Sep 17, 2026, 10:30 AM

The Sound of the Silent Shofar

Not infrequently, something simple and seemingly insignificant – a phrase, an image, a song – can trigger a memory so vivid that what in fact occurred decades ago appears as if it happened the other day. Which is precisely...

Sep 17, 2026, 9:26 AM

As-A-Jew Atonement Time, 2026 Edition

As we kick off the new (Jewish) year, a question: Who was the worst As-A-Jew of 5786? Who did the most damage, pushed the most lies, endangered the most fellow members of Am Yisrael? Each year, these folks spout antisemitic...

Walter Estever Gonzalez

Sep 17, 2026, 6:51 AM

Seven Passports for a Journey That Never Happened

Walter Estever Gonzalez at approximately four or five years old in El Salvador. This surviving copy comes from a photograph taken for a passport intended for a family journey to Mexico that never took place. (Courtesy of the author)

There is a photograph of me from when I was four or five years old. I am wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt and looking directly at the camera with the seriousness children sometimes have when adults tell them not...

Sep 17, 2026, 6:50 AM

The Kanaani Diplomacy™ Doctrine

Diplomatia Kanaaniensis America at the Center of a New Soft-Diplomacy Model for Preserving Israel’s Jerusalem-Born Living Heritage A Brooklyn-Born Model for America's Next Century of International Cooperation By Animal Chaplain and Rabbi Mikhail Salita Founder of the Brooklyn-based Kanaani Revival Program and The...

Sep 17, 2026, 6:49 AM

What We Create When We Don’t want to Forget

A design from Yifat Mandabi’s graduation collection, dedicated to her mother and showcased as part of the Class of 2026 graduate runway show (Yossi Karsu)

My greatest fear is forgetting my mother. It is a simple sentence, but for me it carries the weight of what I have lost and what I have created. I am 46 years old, a mother of three, a personal stylist,...

Allen S. Maller

Sep 17, 2026, 6:48 AM

Of 2000 Prophets 1000 Were Ongoing Israelites

Brannon Wheeler in his article: ”Arab Prophets of the Quran and Bible." Journal of Quranic Studies 8.2 (2006): 24-57: a study that focuses on the question of the ‘Arab’ prophets Hūd, Sālih, and Shucayb. Of all the prophets mentioned...

Sep 17, 2026, 6:46 AM

It is enough to say October 7th, Bondi Beach, Golders Green or Central Synagogue for Jews around the world to be reminded that they are not safe. Eighty-one years after the Holocaust we are threatened once again. A prominent leader...

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