Ari Mittleman, at The Blogs

Mar 8, 2023, 6:16 PM

(Courtesy: International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, Berlin, Germany)

In recently explaining the story of Purim to a non-Jewish colleague, I used the phrase “expect the unexpected.” At the most basic level, the Megillah is one plot twist after another. As Israel and world Jewish community celebrate the happiest...

Jan 2, 2023, 11:44 PM

Thessaloniki and Star Jones

Desecrated memorial in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Last week, a Holocaust memorial in Thessaloniki, Greece was desecrated with antisemitic spray paint. The memorial features a large menorah, Star of David and symbolic gravestones. Twice in 2018 and again in 2019 the memorial was vandalized. Before World War...

Nov 1, 2022, 9:10 PM

When hope and history rhyme

Before even knowing that hateful bile would very publicly visit motorists in Los Angeles, I knew going into Shabbat Bereishit that last week would be emotionally draining. Over the last three years, as the leaves fall from the trees and...

Sep 23, 2022, 10:53 PM

United We Stand (Divided We Fall)

The White House and Washington Monument.

As I powered up my phone after Shabbat three weeks ago, much to my surprise I found an email from the White House inviting me to the United We Stand Summit. Dr. Susan Rice, who leads the Domestic Policy Council,...

Aug 6, 2022, 11:25 AM

Reexamining Kosovo-Israel relations

Israeli diplomats should sit up and pay attention to the first Muslim majority nation – and the first European nation – to open an embassy in Jerusalem

May 26, 2022, 11:29 AM

Reflecting on Buffalo

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images. Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, New York

In classrooms, at kitchen tables and throughout the halls of government, Americans are grappling with how to understand the massacre in Buffalo. Long overdue public conversations are beginning about how to take meaningful steps to combat violence borne from...

Apr 24, 2022, 7:17 AM

Pipelines and Politics

Although with the pace of world events it seems like five years ago, one month ago this week President Joe Biden made a historic trip to Europe. He stood shoulder to shoulder with the leaders of allied democracies. His...

Apr 19, 2022, 3:13 PM

Lessons from Sarajevo

Beauty pageant held in the midst of war torn Sarajevo.

Passover is traditionally known as the “time of our freedom”. At seder tables across the world, the Jewish community gathered last week to mark the biblical exodus from slavery in Egypt. Having been to Ukraine twice for Passover, the conversation...

Mar 25, 2022, 5:55 AM

From Kharkiv to Netanya: 20 Years Later

What Used to Be Kharkiv Hillel ((Sergey Bobok/AFP).

Twenty years ago this week, I traveled to Kharkiv, Ukraine for the first time. It was my first trip abroad since the terror attacks the previous September. Then, as now, there were real questions of what it meant to be...

Mar 18, 2022, 6:38 AM

Reflections on the Loss of Rupiah Banda

The flags of Israel and Zambia. CREDIT: ZambiaInvest.com

Last August, voters across Zambia went to the polls. As Washington and allied democracies held their collective breath, Zambians queued for hours under the African sun. When the dust settled, the opposition candidate for President, Hakainde Hichilema, won handily...

About Me

Ari Mittleman is a proud Jewish father and husband. He lives with his family in Pikesville, Maryland. As a native Pennsylvanian actively involved in the Jewish community, the tragedy in Pittsburgh compelled him to author his first book, Paths of the Righteous by Gefen Publishing House.

Contact Me