Betsalel Steinhart, at The Blogs

Dec 27, 2023, 3:20 PM

‘Hutar le-pirsum’: A lesson in Israeli society

Today's fallen soldiers: L to R: Lt. Yaron Eliezer Chitiz; Staff Sgt. Itay Buton; Staff Sgt. Efraim Jackman, on December 27, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces, via The Times of Israel)

Everyone knows this prelude to the gut-punch of knowing a soldier killed in the line of duty, no matter how distantly; it's a small country

Dec 21, 2023, 7:26 PM

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The sound I dread more than any other

As Israelis, as soldiers, and as parents of soldiers, we keep going, despite the fear of the news that a knock on the door might bring

Dec 13, 2021, 4:57 AM

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Reach out, please, to your local tour guide

I’ve lost count of the many skilled educators who are working menial jobs to feed their families, who are having trouble coping, who are suffering from despair

Mar 24, 2021, 2:48 PM

You can’t have your Pesach/Politics cake and eat it too

What a year it has been, to state the obvious. We at Ramah Israel, bereft of the life-blood of tourists for over a year, are getting ready for the second Pesach under the shadow of COVID – albeit a...

May 7, 2020, 12:57 AM

Rabbi Nachum Rabinovitch – a lesson today from 3 decades ago

It’s not every day that a giant of the Jewish world, and a leader of leaders, passes away. Rabbi Nachum Rabinovitch, my former rosh yeshiva in the "hesder" yeshiva of Birkat Moshe in Maaleh Adumim, who passed away today at...

Apr 21, 2020, 1:59 AM

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The Torah scroll in Tarnogrod

I spotted four columns of Hebrew text on parchment full of holes and blackened with age and dirt hanging up upside-down in a Polish library. What was I to do?

Mar 21, 2020, 8:40 PM

Making choices on Corona-Shabbat

“This is going to be the strangest Shabbat. No shul, no Kehilla, no cars, no movement, nothing. Just Shabbat to rest and recuperate and be with our families. We have all undergone an upheaval, and are all dealing with the crisis...

Dec 30, 2018, 3:29 PM

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‘Sir? Please, can you report this to the army?’

The day an old Arab man hovering at the site of a vandalized memorial took me by surprise

Nov 18, 2018, 9:51 PM

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‘Please explain, I don’t understand how you are all so happy and singing?’

Some final reflections on El Al #002 to Athens, as I set aside blame and rejoice in the unusual sabbath I experienced

Nov 17, 2018, 9:48 PM

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I’m one of those ‘violent’ religious passengers on El Al #002

It's El Al's fault that 200 of us got stuck in Athens for Shabbat

About Me

Betsalel Steinhart is a Licensed Tour Guide, and the Director of the Ramah Israel Institute for Ramah Israel. He lives in Bet Shemesh with his wife and five children.