Avi Berkowitz

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Mar 20, 2020, 9:59 AM

The Opportunity Created by Corona

For the past number of years we have been subjected to the grinding complaints of our neo-conservative politicians, complaints heard more often than not in the feminine lilt of our once and future Justice Minister, against the power of...

Mar 20, 2019, 1:50 PM

The Politics of Esther: The Story of our Times

There was surely a time when the Story of Esther must have been seen as Hebrew mythology or Biblical fantasy. One man wielding State power constructs a legal order sustained by political authority calculated for the single purpose of...

Jul 18, 2018, 10:55 PM

V’yashivu Otanu Davar: On Memory and Mourning

Jewish tradition dictates that on Shabbat Hazon – the Shabbat before the fast of Tish’a b’Av – we read parshat Devarim. Among the reasons for this tradition is Moshe Rabbeinu’s reference to the sin of the spies which appears...

May 10, 2018, 5:55 PM

When Both Putin and Trump Salute the Jews

It probably makes no sense to submit a blog post to the Times of Israel challenging David Horovitz’ analysis of current events. As I have learned to my bitter consternation, the Times of Israel’s market place of ideas is not...

Dec 25, 2017, 12:10 PM

The 10th of the 10th: A political lesson from the halakhic system governing this Thursday’s fast

Asara b’tevet, literally, the tenth day in the Hebrew month of tevet which falls on this Thursday, is a fast day established to commemorate the first step in the process which lead to the destruction of both the First...

Dec 20, 2017, 10:23 AM

Zot Hanukah: The Chanukah story is Judaism’s Calvinist moment

During the course of the week long plus Chanukah holiday which ends today, I have wondered about the logic of this celebration, and even more so, about its purpose. Had the Maccabees been defeated by the Greeks, had the Jewish...

Oct 4, 2017, 9:30 AM

The Juxtaposition of Yom Kippur and Succot: An Alternative to the Approach of Yael Unterman

On Yom Kippur we encounter the Divine. Through the five depravations which we inflict upon ourselves -- the eenuim of refraining from eating and drinking, from washing our bodies with water, from smearing creams or oils on our skin,...

Mar 20, 2017, 9:43 AM

In memory of Menachem Begin: A salute to the second giant of Zionism 25 years after his death

As the Hebrew month of Adar wanes, it behooves us to recall that 25 years ago, on the fifth day of this month, Menachem Begin, the sixth prime minister of the Jewish state and the second giant of Zionism, passed away. It...

Mar 16, 2017, 11:02 AM

Sovereignty, not settlements: Did we ignore Donald Trump’s unprecedented offer?

With the following six words -- “one state, two states, whatever works” -- President Donald Trump sought to transform the parameters of our conflict with the Palestine Arabs living on both sides of the Green Line. From now on, so the president...

Oct 10, 2016, 1:08 PM

Maftir Yona: Kapara for All Mankind

In Shulkhan Arukh – the Code of Jewish Law – we find a dispute between the Mekhaber – Rabbi Yosef Cairo – and the Rama – Rabbi Moshe Isserlis – regarding the appropriate blessings to be recited at the...

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About Me

Avi Berkowitz teaches history at the Rothberg International School at the Hebrew University, and serves as the Rabbi of the Minyan HaVatikim in the Rimon section of Efrat. He holds a PhD from Columbia University in International Relations, with a specialty in Middle East studies and received his Rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Aaron Soloveitchick. Prior to coming on aliyah, he served as the rabbi of the Community Synagogue in Manhattan's East Village, taught history at the Ramaz Upper School, and was an adjunct Assistant Professor of political science and Middle East studies at CUNY