Eric Lankin

Jewish Nonprofit pro and Adjunct Professor HUJI

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Apr 6, 2025, 6:52 PM

Enslavement, Freedom, & Addiction: Life Lessons at the Seder Table This Year

At our Seder table, we never make assumptions about the choices our guests will make regarding the four cups. Through experience, we have learned to always respect each participant's choice when they engage with this particular mitzvah. When we...

Mar 13, 2022, 11:29 PM

The Jews hiding among us this Purim

(Shutterstock)

In 1991, I and four other rabbis from Long Island were among 60 rabbis trained to work with Jewish addicts and those in recovery. It's hard to believe, but we were told that this training was the first time...

Jul 23, 2020, 1:02 PM

Get Used to Wearing Masks

To educate, uplift, and inspire people all across the world through the global COVID pandemic crisis, this (library of) artwork was donated by creators in response to the UN’s Open Brief thanks to the generosity of the creative community.

I am afraid that we will be wearing masks for a long time to come. And it won’t be solely because of a viral pandemic. Soon it may be because of the air quality of our planet. There is a clear...

Jan 10, 2020, 11:32 AM

Like We Have Never Seen Before in Our Lifetime

Many of us are terribly distressed by the targeting of Jews in an epidemic of antisemitic incidents world-wide. To witness the United States, the land where I was born and in whose military I served, experiencing public attacks on...

Apr 14, 2017, 10:56 PM

Pesach on the Front Lines

In a poignant comment erev yom tov by my son Benjy, a soldier in the IDF, who said that “I am serving tonight so Israelis can observe their Sedarim in safety.” Overtired and serving in a dangerous position, he...

Jul 7, 2014, 9:11 PM

Free is Sometimes Too Expensive

When I was a congregational Rabbi, I remember coming home to my wife after a synagogue program and telling her that we had 100 participants at the program. Using her skills as a Rabbi’s wife, she recalculated the attendance...

Apr 18, 2014, 5:03 AM

How to Save the Two-State Solution

Is the two-state solution still alive? Although Secretary of State Kerry seems to be running out of steam, I am glad to hear that the Israelis and the Palestinians are still talking. It’s true that every proposal for a...

Apr 2, 2014, 4:21 AM

The Slaves Among Us: A Present Day Passover Story

My friend Mel is a pathological gambler. He grew up in a poor Jewish family in Newark. His father drove a lunch truck and mother stayed at home caring for the three children. As a teen, Mel got involved in...

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About Me

Rabbi Dr. Eric Lankin is a former congregational Rabbi and Jewish communal pro. He is a Guide/Educator at Yad Vashem and a volunteer Group Leader at AZ House, a sober-house for male recovering alcoholics and drug-addicts in Pisgat Ze'ev, Jerusalem. He and his family made aliya seven years ago and live in Jerusalem.

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