Elchanan Poupko, at The Blogs

May 15, 2025, 7:32 PM

With boutique activism, Zionists are boxing themselves into too-private spaces and forfeiting the public square. It's endangering Israel

May 7, 2025, 11:25 AM

Shir Hashirim, Song, Pesach and Religious Zionism

At no time in the Jewish calendar do we read as many songs as we do on Passover, especially on the 7th day of Passover. We read Shirat Hayam – the song Bnei Yisrael sang when they emerged from...

May 6, 2025, 12:14 AM

The Abuse of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’

Walking to synagogue on Passover, I passed every day near what used to be John Lennon’s home on 72nd Street and Central Park West. As the words of prayer were on my lips and the ideas for my upcoming sermon brewing...

Apr 28, 2025, 11:21 PM

Ernest Shackleton’s Passover

With just a one-word telegram from Winston Churchill in 1914, the world of exploration would be transformed. Irish-British explorer Ernest Shackleton received a telegram from Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, reading “proceed.” Shackleton, along with his Norwegian...

Apr 22, 2025, 8:24 PM

To Ben Gvir’s Host

Dear Rabbi Shmully Hecht, As a rabbi, I am sure you are familiar with the Ten Commandments—specifically the one about not carrying God’s name in vain. By inviting Ben Gvir to speak to Jewish students at Yale University, you have...

Apr 22, 2025, 7:41 AM

Shvi’i Shel Pesach Yizkor, Remembering Ted Comet

On a day Yizkor coincides with a holiday as joyous as Passover, we use the festivities of coming together, to also remember those who have brought us to this togetherness, and how much of what we are celebrating is...

Apr 17, 2025, 11:11 PM

Passover, a Time of Song

While attending an Ishay Ribo concert at Toad’s Place in New Haven—a venue on the Yale University campus that has hosted artists like Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones—it dawned on me that there is...

Apr 16, 2025, 3:13 AM

Shabbat Hagadol: Being Suddenly Prepared

Last week, Senator Cory Booker from New Jersey broke the record by giving a Senate filibuster speech that lasted 24 hours and 18 minutes on the Senate floor, putting at ease rabbis who have been preparing their Shabbat Hagadol...

Mar 17, 2025, 11:38 PM

Perlman, Lansky, and Deporting Mahmoud Khalil

The day rabbis start telling US judges what to do, would be a bad day. The separation of church and state is a vital one and while rabbis ought to do everything to uphold, teach and advocate for Jewish...

Mar 11, 2025, 8:07 PM

This Purim, we are all Esthers

While the costumes, the candy, and the celebrations lead many to refer to the holiday of Purim as “the Jewish Halloween,” the vastness of literature in the Book of Esther, the heavy history, and remembering the existential nature of...

About Me

Rabbi Elchanan Poupko is a New England based eleventh-generation rabbi, teacher, and author. He has written Sacred Days on the Jewish Holidays, Poupko on the Parsha, and hundreds of articles published in five languages. He is the president of EITAN--The American Israeli Jewish Network.

Contact Me