Rachel Sharansky Danziger, at The Blogs

Rachel Sharansky Danziger

Jan 5, 2025, 11:52 PM

The threads that bind us: A tale of grief and love

Jon, Rachel, Orly and Leebie Goldberg Polin raising The Shoham family from their Shiva on Sunday morning at Jerusalem. Courtesy of Shira Ben Sasson-Furstenberg.

A little over two weeks ago, a woman stopped my father, Natan Sharansky, in the street. She told him about a gathering that her community leads every shabbat at the Oranim intersection in southern Jerusalem to show solidarity with...

Dec 20, 2024, 3:08 PM

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A letter to our 100 – and to ourselves

Jews attend a prayer for the return of the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, March 21, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

We cannot undo Joseph's captivity at his brothers' hands, but we must do all we can for our captives in Gaza, for we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers (Vayeshev)

Oct 28, 2024, 3:10 PM

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Rabbi Avi Goldberg: A man who lit up the world

His smile conveyed his confidence in what was right and such love of the Jewish people and humanity that a brief encounter inevitably set my mind at ease

Oct 23, 2024, 2:02 PM

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The dance that never stopped

After this long year of fighting to keep hope alive, I know that the true dance, the one that underlies all others, will go on

Oct 16, 2024, 2:30 PM

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Sukkot: Seeking strength

This year, we don't need our transient sukkahs to remind us how fragile life is, but we also can't let our knowledge impede our resolve to carry on

Oct 11, 2024, 2:06 PM

Netanel’s shofar: A soundscape of heartbreak and resolve

It's Friday. Yom Kippur is almost here. Normally I'd be in my kitchen right now, chopping vegetables for the meal before the fast. But not today. Today, I am here at Mount Herzl with my son, walking towards the funeral...

Oct 7, 2024, 12:44 AM

God, where do we go from here?

God, We have walked quite the road together this year, You and us. In the early days, when horror bled into horror and the world was unmade around us and so many people stared at us from "did you see my...

Sep 2, 2024, 9:56 PM

Sharing grief: Of mourning Hersh and the other slain hostages

Early in the morning of October 23rd, the 17th day of the war, my family joined a throng of friends and neighbors walking towards Jon and Rachel Polin Goldberg’s home . I was holding a folded flag and my...

Aug 28, 2024, 2:43 PM

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Unbearable joy: The magnitude of hostages coming home

Rescued hostage Farhan al-Qadi at Beersheba's Soroka Hospital, on August 27, 2024. (Yossi Ifergan/GPO)

On 5 of the occasions (so far) when people returned alive from the hell of Hamas's captivity, I was overcome by a sense of potential for the future

Aug 5, 2024, 12:36 PM

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As dangers loom, our ancestors give me strength

'Judea Capta' sestertius of Vespasian, struck in 71 AD to celebrate the victory in the Jewish Revolt. The inscription on the reverse says: IVDEA CAPTA, "Judaea conquered". Image by Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2264120

Our Jewish foremothers knew how to live through catastrophes, but how they would marvel at a Jewish state supporting us as we do the same

About Me

Rachel is a Jerusalem-born writer and educator who's in love with her city's vibrant human scene. She writes about Judaism, history, and life in Israel for the Times of Israel and other online venues, and explores storytelling in the Hebrew bible as a teacher in Matan, Maayan, Torah in Motion, and Pardes.