Stephen Daniel Arnoff, at The Blogs

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Jun 28, 2023, 1:59 PM

The Impossible International

A photograph of Isaac Babel taken by the NKVD after his arrest, circa 1939

Opening our doors for Kabbalat Shabbat brings all kinds of people to the place where I work and pray. Our Masorti synagogue has been filled to the brim every Friday night in June thus far, and many are joining...

May 9, 2023, 3:50 AM

A Nation Fit for a King

A chance to meet a friend, a cheap flight, a good place to stay: why not go to London for the weekend? If I had been a more attentive student of history, I would have known that hundreds of...

Apr 25, 2023, 2:31 PM

Herzl and Lennon and the World As One

I grew up, like many of you, in a world that John Lennon created. I'm not talking about world of the Beatles – whom even this Bob Dylan obsessive can admit were ultimately the greatest global force for peace,...

Mar 28, 2023, 6:54 PM

This Year in Jerusalem

It was the dead of night when Moses informed the Israelites that they had to flee Egypt. Despite every promise, prophecy, plague, and negotiation, it was still possible that Pharaoh could change his mind. Even simple bread did not...

Jan 10, 2023, 9:29 PM

The Fringes That Do Not Have to Tear Us Apart

The center of a society is only as strong as the skill with which it weaves together the tensions held by its fringes. We see this everyday in a world ripped nearly to shreds by its extremes. From Sao...

Jan 2, 2023, 12:04 PM

Santos lies, Machiavelli sighs, and we get the leaders we deserve

Statue of Niccolo Machiavelli by Lorenzo Bartolini, in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, 1843 (Cc-Share Alike 3.0)

This lost, lonely young man and his complacent community teach us an essential lesson about leadership: We all stand on the shoulders of giants

Nov 7, 2022, 10:00 AM

To truly lead, Israeli officials should learn to paint

To truly lead, Israeli officials should learn to paint In times of division in Israel and around the world, when broad expectations for liberalism and personal liberty slam into deep urges for theocracy and control, the answers for how to...

Oct 22, 2021, 4:53 PM

From Dylan to Beyoncé: Spiritual Secrets Revealed

The Temptations. The Grateful Dead. The Runaways. Nirvana. Destiny’s Child. The names of rock and roll heroes insist on spiritual liberation and an endless quest for love and completion. As rock and roll emerged as a cultural force in the...

Sep 26, 2021, 12:55 PM

Power, powerlessness, and Sukkot in ‘Borgen’

Like the stars shining through the sukkah, my new favorite fictional head of state reminds me that we are at the mercy of nature, feeling our way through the dark

Sep 13, 2021, 5:10 PM

Bob Dylan Gets the Multitudes to Heaven

The Babylonian Talmud teaches that all human beings contain a world, whole and complete, and that the loss of a single life is akin to an entire world vanishing away (Sanhedrin 37a). We all contain multitudes, says the Talmud,...

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About Me

Dr. Stephen Daniel Arnoff is the CEO of the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center and author of the book About Man and God and Law: The Spiritual Wisdom of Bob Dylan.

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