Shraga Bar-on, at The Blogs

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Apr 21, 2020, 1:42 PM

Redeeming God: Faith after the Shoah (Untimely Meditations)

My grandmother, Priva Hershkowitz, z”l, was freed from Auschwitz by the Red Army. Not much remained of her body, but her great soul illuminated faith in God and man and rebuilt a Jewish home in Israel. Like Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz,...

Apr 17, 2020, 6:25 PM

‘As a Well Robbed by Buckets’: The Battle for the Human Spirit in the Days of COVID-19

My poverty is as a well / whose heart has been robbed by buckets. They said: You’ve lived your life already / a toil for good and bad, And what will make you grimace / drunken bird? Abraham Chalfi “A Man in...

Mar 31, 2020, 1:45 AM

‘An Angel Full of Eyes’: Fearing Death and the Sanctifying Life during COVID-19

And at night a man roused like a dog / And his heart filled with tears In front of him, stands with a thousand eyes / Staring, an Angel of Death An angel, who is all eyes, staring / An angel,...

Jan 10, 2020, 6:43 AM

An open letter to Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef

Your Honor, Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, You are correct! The Law of Return creates many problems. Until the 1970 amendment, it was clear that any Jew who made Aliya to Israel, since their family was persecuted because of their Judaism, since...

Jul 30, 2018, 4:07 PM

Bougie, see beyond the Israeli perspective to all the Jewish People

Isaac Herzog speaks on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 25, 2018. (Courtesy)

Here's how the new Jewish Agency chairman can be a crucial bridge between Israel and the whole Jewish people

Apr 30, 2018, 6:59 PM

Israel Must Bridge It’s Gap with American Jewry

As an Israeli Zionist, I do not wish to engage in soul-searching on behalf of US Jewry. All I wish to do is claim that the time has come to articulate a new Zionist position that will grant full...

Oct 26, 2017, 12:57 PM

Inglorious Mamzers — Israel’s Bastardy Dilemma

The “Mamzerim” exhibition at the Jerusalem Biennale for Contemporary Jewish Art is both impressive and moving. Nurit Jacobs Yinon, who initiated the work “Mamzerim: Labeled & Erased” with Emily Bilski, told me on a recent visit: “Society stigmatizes the...

Sep 28, 2017, 4:09 PM

For Yom Kippur: A jealous or compassionate God?

By changing His mind and forgiving, God proves that He puts compassion over anger

Jun 22, 2017, 11:03 AM

The spiritual stagnation of Jewish education

The problem of secularization is much discussed at educational conferences. Most educators think the problem lies with young people who prefer a secular way of life, abandoning religion and belief, giving up Judaism and its demands, whether it is...

Jul 22, 2015, 11:38 AM

Jerusalem was destroyed because of mere foolishness

The answer to the question, "Why was Jerusalem destroyed?" is seemingly simple: because of its revolts. A small country cannot withstand an empire. In the days of the First Temple, Babylon occupied the ancient Near East, including the Judean Kingdom....

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About Me

Rabbi Dr. Shraga Bar-On is a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute and the director of the institute's David Hartman Center for Intellectual Excellence. He co-heads the Beit Midrash for Israeli Rabbis and a faculty member at Shalem College in Jerusalem, Israel.

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