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Jun 2, 2026, 6:33 PM

A chance encounter

The Jewish Federation of Howard County, Maryland sponsored a special event. It was April 21, 2026, and here in Columbia, Maryland, it was יום הזכרון the eve of Yom HaZikaron. We met at Beth Shalom, a small synagogue in Columbia,...

Jonathan Guttentag

May 31, 2026, 4:58 PM

The World Aunt Freda Carried

Last month, my aunt, Freda Steinberg, née Guttentag, passed away in Jerusalem, at the age of more than one hundred. Tomorrow evening marks the yahrzeit of my father, Mechel Max Guttentag ז״ל — Aunt Freda’s elder brother. As I write...

May 21, 2026, 11:39 PM

Antisemitism Took Sarah and Yaron – We Can’t Let it Define Us

It's been one year since antisemitism stole the lives of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky. Sarah and Yaron were two bright, passionate young people, who came to Washington to pursue careers in diplomacy and peacebuilding. They fell in love while...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

May 21, 2026, 11:13 PM

According to Jewish tradition, King David, who ruled for 40 years was born as well as passed away on Shavuot. David was the youngest of Yishai’s sons and he was in charge of shepherding the flocks. David’s experience as a shepherd...

Ruthie Hollander

May 20, 2026, 9:33 AM

The two deaths of Megillat Rut

They say you die twice: once when you stop breathing, and again when your name is spoken for the last time. Megillat Rut doesn’t open this way, but it could. The line, often attributed to Hemingway or Banksy, captures a...

Jonathan Freirich

May 20, 2026, 4:31 AM

A Jewish Country Song

I began writing this on Friday, May 15, while at the airport. “A Jewish Country Song”, Sitting in Newark en route to Florida. Meeting my mother at a United gate. We find out my aunt died while queuing to board. I hate that “God’s...

May 19, 2026, 8:28 PM

The Second Driveway

The first time taught me what to look for. The second time, I already knew. I was fourteen the first time I came home to a driveway full of cars and didn't understand what I was looking at. It was January...

Andy Blumenthal

May 17, 2026, 8:16 AM

Why I Came Back to Shul

For years, one of the absolute best perks of returning regularly to synagogue has been rediscovering a very specific, distinctly Jewish superpower: our humor. It’s warm, deeply self-aware, and forged through millennia of practicing the art of the collective...

Kenneth Jacobson

May 13, 2026, 9:53 PM

Remembering Abe Foxman

When I started to work at ADL 55 years ago, with no intention to be there more than two or three years, it was the luckiest thing for me that there was a young lawyer at the organization, a...

Jonathan Guttentag

May 10, 2026, 7:32 PM

Until This Day: My Mother’s Matzevah

(courtesy)

Until This Day: Reflections at My Mother’s Matzevah Last week, our family gathered at Agecroft Beis Hachayim in Manchester to set the matzevah for my mother, Mrs Eva — Chava bas Reb Shlomo Osher — Guttentag, a”h. In Jewish tradition, a...

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