David-Seth Kirshner, at The Blogs

Nov 19, 2024, 1:04 PM

J Street and Bernie Sanders are playing a dangerous game with Jewish lives

US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), joined by fellow senators U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and U.S. Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT), listens to a question at a news conference on restricting arms sales to Israel at the U.S. Capitol on November 19, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/AFP)

They are signaling that a vulnerable Israel is the only Israel they will support. Meanwhile, Israel’s enemies sharpen their swords

Oct 1, 2024, 6:30 PM

Unetaneh Toqef for 5785

Who leisurely woke up on a Shabbat morning to pour coffee? And who was still in their bed? Who was dancing at the Nova Festival? And who was off in the corner talking with friends? Who woke to change a baby’s diaper? And who...

Sep 25, 2024, 6:47 AM

J Street’s “Champions” are Weakening Israel’s Security

Iron Dome Battery -
Photo from Wikipedia

I’ll never forget the first time I saw the miracle of Iron Dome in action. It was like a page out of a science fiction novel. I was with my family on the streets of Israel. We heard the sirens...

Apr 26, 2024, 7:12 PM

Going to College to Get Stupid

On the UCLA campus, an immigrant professor was proudly protesting “Zionism” and chanting against the State of Israel for allegedly committing genocide. The encamped students on the quad were buoyed to have professorial support joining their choir of “From the...

Apr 19, 2024, 7:46 PM

Investment Advice

I have never taken a Series 7 examination, nor do I understand the Stock Market well. Still, I have some investment advice for you: Go long on young Jewish leaders. Allow me to share why I am so bullish about...

Mar 12, 2024, 8:55 PM

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Room for two, please

Can't celebrities and elected officials support more than one cause at a time? There's room on our lapels and in our hearts for more

Dec 10, 2023, 10:03 PM

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Optical allusion: Naked in Gaza

The photo of surrendering Palestinian men offers a Rorschach test for our views of the conflict

Dec 4, 2023, 12:25 PM

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Books worth burning

Illustrative: An image of a girl smiling as 'heretics' are burned in a Palestinian textbook. (IMPACT-SE, via The Times of Israel)

Eradicating Hamas is not enough. We must stop allowing Palestinian children to be raised to hate Jews and to think Israel is their enemy

Nov 26, 2023, 7:29 AM

Streams of Anxious Consciousness 50

This will be my last Stream of Anxious Consciousness. At least for now. I am taking a pause after 50 days of chronicling the massacre against Israel on October the 7th and the aftermath of shock, trauma and anguish...

Nov 25, 2023, 10:54 PM

Streams of Anxious Consciousness 49

In 1987, on a sunny autumn afternoon in Midland, Texas, 18-month-old baby Jessica McClure was playing in the backyard of her aunt’s home, which was also a make-shift day care center. Suddenly, Jessica stepped in the wrong direction and...

About Me

David-Seth Kirshner is the senior rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, a Conservative synagogue in Closter, New Jersey. He is the past President of the NY Board of Rabbis and the NJ Board of Rabbis and is a Senior Rabbinic Fellow at the Hartman Institute and serves on the Executive Committee of the JFNA. Rabbi Kirshner was appointed to the New Jersey/Israel Commission by Governors Christie and Murphy. Rabbi Kirshner is a National Council member of AIPAC and an adjunct faculty member at the Academy for Jewish Religion, (AJR). He is the author of Streams of Shattered Consciousness, featured in The NY Times Book Review (Feb '24) and has over 11,000 copies in circulation in its first three months since publication. He has spoken on his book and topics connected to Judaism and Zionism across the world.

Contact Me