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Death and Mourning

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Adam S. Ferziger

Aug 28, 2026, 3:38 PM

Rising from shiva for Ally: The math teacher who never counted anyone out

As the traditional seven days of shiva came to an end, our family — our close mishpahah — rise from the low chairs. In the wake of a sudden and incomprehensible tragedy, the natural human instinct is to fixate...

Andy Blumenthal

Aug 22, 2026, 11:37 AM

The Work of Living After October 7

ALS scares me. So does terrorism. Both force us to confront how suddenly life can change. I did not come to Tuesdays with Morrie as someone revisiting an old favorite. I came to it after October 7, carrying questions I...

Allen S. Maller

Aug 16, 2026, 7:04 AM

Death, Burial and Afterlife

DEATH: Torah; Do Not Murder Exodus 20:13, Deuteronomy 5:7 : “Do Not Kill” in Christian translations in accordance with Jesus' 'turn the other cheek' philosophy. But killing in Self Defense is O.K. Exodus 22:2. A man breaks into your...

Aug 14, 2026, 3:58 AM

Was the shofar born in silence?

The sound of the ram's horn we blow on Rosh Hashana is not only a ringing summons but also a way to call out when words fail us

Aug 10, 2026, 7:47 PM

Stefanskirche and a peculiar scent

At the tender age of eight, our teacher, Frau Klob, took us on a Lehrausflug, an educational excursion, to one of Vienna’s most iconic landmarks: the Stefanskirche, St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Before I could whisper a word of hesitation, or reveal...

Aug 9, 2026, 12:53 PM

25 years ago, my daughter was killed in the Sbarro bombing. Her killer is free

Police and medics surround the scene of a suicide bombing inside Jerusalem's Sbarro restaurant, August 9, 2001. Fifteen people were killed, and 130 injured. A 16th victim died in 2023. (AP/Peter Dejong)

I am in the grotesque position of being politically inconvenient, while the confessed terrorist is protected by a US ally. Her freedom mocks justice itself

Isaac Steven Herschkopf

Aug 6, 2026, 5:17 AM

Happy Endings: The Miracle of Terminal Lucidity

"Lowly faithful, banish fear, Right onward drive unharmed; The port, well worth the cruise, is near, And every wave is charmed." Terminus, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1867) Both my parents died from dementia. In truth, they perished as my parent long before...

Andy Blumenthal

Aug 2, 2026, 4:57 AM

Don’t Wait Until Death to Learn How to Live

Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a novel about Eddie, an aging amusement-park maintenance worker who dies trying to save a child and then meets five people in heaven. Each encounter helps him understand a...

Molly Livingstone

Jul 30, 2026, 10:04 PM

The shadow of the Hebrew U. bombing, 24 years later

The day Marla Bennett was murdered, I was waiting for her to return to our California summer camp and tell me all about her time in Israel. I am here because of her

Michael S. Diamond

Jul 27, 2026, 4:18 AM

The Archive of Forgetting and Undoing

I have registered my maps in The Archive of Forgetting and Undoing. The walls to the Holy City have been breached in this month of the Babylonian god who at Summer’s zenith dies, the faithful son, and returns with the rains of Winter and Spring dew, ransom for his goddess sister, Lady of the Date Clusters. Perhaps...

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