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Reuven Chaim Klein

Feb 13, 2019, 9:42 PM

Titzaveh: Is Cotton a Type of Linen?

The Hebrew language has several words to refer to "linen”: pishtah/pishtan/pishtim (“flax”), butz, sheish (Yoma 71b), and bahd (Zevachim 18b). In fact, the Talmud explicitly defines the last two words as “linen” — which is known in the Talmud as kitna (see also Targum to Ex. 9:31). The word kitna refers to “linen”...

Feb 11, 2019, 9:36 PM

Longing for Cairo

Prior to Israel’s 1948 independence, the Jewish community of Egypt numbered 88,000 with some 25,000 Jews living in the capital city of Cairo. In the late 19th and 20th centuries Egypt was considered the grandest country of the Middle East...

Andy Blumenthal

Feb 2, 2019, 11:50 PM

Moses’ Handicap

(Photo Credit: Andy Blumenthal)

I really liked the speech in synagogue today by the visiting Rabbi Hayyim Kassorla and wanted to share and adapt from it. It was about how you choose a leader. Of course, one of the most important things that we...

Jan 10, 2019, 10:49 PM

Against their gods

The best test of a civilization is how it treats children -- and it's a lesson we still need to learn (Bo)

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Jan 10, 2019, 2:17 AM

Why did B’nai Yisrael receive gifts?

In Parshat Shmot (Shmot 3:20-22), God promised Moshe: “And I will stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all of my wonders which I will do in their midst: and after that he will let you go. And...

Jan 4, 2019, 7:37 PM

Our Daily Exodus

Life is a series of Exoduses. We struggle to unlock one door, and as we open it we hopefully see the next locked door ahead of us. I say "hopefully", because to think that we can just arrive at...

Dec 19, 2018, 5:08 PM

Predicting the unpredictable as we enter a new year

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump join King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, and the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, Sunday, May 21, 2017, to participate in the inaugural opening of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology. They have their hands on an orb, which some critics mocked them for. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead via Wikipedia )

Is it possible to predict the future in Israel and the Middle East? The most unpredictable and unstable region in the world. Every year at BICOM we give it a go, pooling our expertise to publish a forecast of...

Daniel Bucksbaum

Nov 12, 2018, 9:16 PM

Where is Mr. Security?

Photo: Haaretz

Prime Minister Netanyahu was elected and has remained in power for so many years because of his perceived hawkish and uncompromising views on Israel's national security. He has maintained peace and security for Israel’s citizens near the Syrian and...

Michael S. Diamond

Nov 11, 2018, 7:28 AM

Brothers from another mother: Chaya Sarah

I was sipping a mojito at the bar at the back of ‘The High Road’ in Midtown. Technically it was called ‘Bar: The High Road’, but it kind of breaks your teeth to say it all out. My mom...

Moshe-Mordechai van Zuiden

Oct 19, 2018, 6:02 AM

Now, here’s an outrageous Middle East Peace Plan (MEPP)

No reasonableness or nuance When I read this extremist rejection of whatever-peace-plan-Trump-has-in-store, I thought: I can go wilder. Much wilder. I don't want the content to be taken too seriously. Rather, it should work as any brainstorming, for inspiration. Among the...

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