Michael M. Rosen, at The Blogs

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Aug 11, 2019, 7:48 PM

5 year Aliyaversary: Israel’s promise and challenge

Today, the 10th of Av, our family marks five years since arriving in Israel – our “Aliyaversary.” Our experience in the Jewish state has been blessedly wonderful, on balance. We have surmounted myriad linguistic, cultural, and religious challenges; extracted ourselves...

Apr 22, 2018, 2:35 PM

Cosmology, Judaism, and the Nobel Prize: An Interview with Physicist and Author Brian Keating

How and when did the universe start? How do Jewish values inform scientific inquiry? And how have so darn many Jews won the Nobel Prize? Brian Keating, a professor of astrophysics at the University of California San Diego and a...

Dec 17, 2017, 8:44 PM

From Jerusalem to Vienna: Broken Glass, Trump’s Proclamation, and Hanukkah

Austrian riot police blocks streets from protesters opposing the annual right-wing Freedom Party's Academic Ball near the Hoffburg palace in Vienna, on January 30, 2015 (photo credit: AFP/JOE KLAMAR)

The smashed window of a kosher restaurant in Vienna conjures an all-too-familiar and enduring hatred

Sep 11, 2017, 5:25 PM

Tocqueville as Self-Help Guru: A review of James Poulos’s The Art of Being Free: How Alexis de Tocqueville Can Save Us from Ourselves

What can a 19th century French nobleman possibly teach us about cultivating virtue, culture, freedom, and equality in contemporary American society? Quite a bit, it turns out. While Alexis de Tocqueville’s epoch-shaping, exquisitely chronicled visit to the United States took...

Nov 20, 2016, 6:15 PM

From #NeverTrump to “Respect but Verify”

To those who share Trump’s party but not his values: principled governance is possible -- with vigilance

Jul 20, 2016, 10:57 PM

In Cleveland, the Trump Circus, Up Close and Personal

CLEVELAND, OHIO – The night before I arrived here last month to drop my kids off at summer camp, my beloved Golden State Warriors had faltered in Game 7 of the NBA Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who’d completed...

Sep 24, 2015, 8:36 PM

In a span of four short days, the world lost two giants: longtime Israeli Supreme Court Justice Mishael (“Misha”) Cheshin, who died on September 19 at 79, and famed New York Yankees catcher Lawrence Peter (“Yogi”) Berra, who passed...

Jun 4, 2015, 3:42 PM

Netanyahu Basketball Comments Ignite Another Diplomatic Firestorm

JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sparked yet another international inferno with, of all things, comments about American basketball that critics have condemned as inflammatory and that even supporters acknowledge further endangers a peace process already on...

Nov 20, 2014, 6:48 PM

11 Perplexing Things About Life in Israel

From the moment my wife and I moved our family from San Diego, California to Ra’anana nearly four months ago, we’ve noticed countless puzzling things about Israel, some good, some bad; some funny, some infuriating; some trivial, some important....

Jun 16, 2014, 9:38 PM

Fruit of the Hadar Tree

עברי, גם באוני, בן-שר" “Every Jew, even in poverty, is a prince.” --Betar Anthem It’s difficult to render the Hebrew word hadar (הדר) into English. The closest approximation would be an amalgam of dignity, honor, pride, strength, courage, splendor, and distinguished beauty....

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About Me

Michael M. Rosen is an attorney and writer in Ra'anana, Israel. He and his family recently made aliyah from San Diego.