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Joshua Z. Rokach

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May 20, 2026, 4:32 AM

Orthodox’s Misplaced Outreach

Orthodoxy’s Misplaced Outreach We observant Jews spend the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot trying to elevate our spiritual side, in preparation for accepting the Torah. We count the Omer, not just to remember the deaths of the students of...

Nov 20, 2025, 10:22 PM

The Nuremberg Principles, 80 years later

Eighty years ago, November 20, 1945, the victorious allies of World War II opened the Nuremberg war crimes trials. Twenty-four Nazi leaders stood accused of conspiracy to wage war, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against the peace....

Aug 24, 2025, 9:01 AM

Native Americans: “Lost Tribes” mystery

For me, the new year ignites curiosity about the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel. We in the Ashkenazi community pray during Rosh Hashanah Mussaf for that day when “a Great Shofar will blast and the lost in the land...

Jun 5, 2025, 3:04 PM

Lessons from the priestly blessings

Tucked into the 176 verses of this week's portion, Naso, five, those describing the priests offering their daily blessings, contain profound lessons for us in our daily lives, millennia later. People in special positions have the G-d given power...

Apr 23, 2025, 10:05 PM

Francis I and Jews, in context

pope Francis/pixabayimages.com

Amid commentaries about the Catholic Church’s relations with Jews during the papacy of Francis I and his personal warmth toward us, I think it proper to place Francis’s legacy in the context of those of modern popes. Where does...

Jan 28, 2025, 8:37 AM

The cloud over US Holocaust Remembrance Day

This year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. World leaders gathered in Poland, along with the few remaining survivors, for a moving service. In the US, the Holocaust Museum publicly read the names...

Dec 30, 2024, 5:31 AM

Jimmy Carter respected Jews and Judaism

Assessments of the life of Jimmy Carter by Jews focus on his impact on the Middle East. Cheers for his critical role in sealing the deal on the Camp David Accords in 1978 and the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in...

Nov 8, 2024, 8:54 AM

Lessons for Israel

Hand putting vote into ballot box on table outside.

By the time Israel holds its next elections for the Knesset, the swarm of US consultants descending on the country will have forgotten the mistakes the center-left in the US made in this week’s presidential election. The Democrats failed...

Aug 30, 2024, 11:53 PM

The Kennedy-Trump election we needed

September 2, Labor Day, unofficially opens the US election season. The upheavals of the preceding six weeks underline the political whirlwind ongoing since 2016.. Vice President Kamala Harris replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee and Independent Robert...

Jul 8, 2024, 9:44 PM

The same old Joe Biden

We US voters and, indeed, the rest of the world, rightly focus on Joe Biden’s discombobulated performance at his presidential debate. Biden's responses to that disaster, more than the debate itself, highlight worrisome issues beyond age. Those of us...

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About Me

Joshua Z. Rokach is a retired appellate lawyer and a graduate of Yale Law School.