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Jun 19, 2025, 5:02 PM

A New Persian Miracle in the Purim Style

As I write these words, my wife and children and I and four other sets of neighbors have emerged from our fortified room in our home in Jerusalem. We have just experienced the latest in a wave of IGRC...

Ben-Tzion Spitz

Jun 18, 2025, 9:44 PM

The Limits of Forgiveness (Shelach)

We are free to choose our actions, but we are not free to choose the consequences of those actions. — Stephen R. Covey What do the following serious transgressions have in common? Blasphemy Idol worship Violating Shabbat Prohibited sexual actions ...

Jun 18, 2025, 5:42 AM

Miracles from the Void: Nothingness, Infinity and Quantum Mechanics.

In this article, I quote a portion of The Tanya, written by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745–1812), the founder of Chabad Hasidism. The Tanya synthesizes foundational Jewish sources, including the Hebrew Scriptures (Tanakh), the Talmud, and, in particular,...

Jun 17, 2025, 7:51 PM

Shelach: Truth Weaponized Then, As Today

Big, bold lies are blunt instruments. They’re usually easy to spot, easy to dismiss. Who knows where we will be when this is published, but Iran's regime has just announced that they have shot down 28 Israeli jets in the...

Adam Louis-Klein

Jun 15, 2025, 11:33 PM

Before Orthodoxy

Jewish tradition has always been more plural, symbolic, and visionary than its later codifiers acknowledged. It’s time we remembered. Contemporary Jewish discourse too often treats tradition as a closed, fixed system—something to be defended by repeating formulas rather than re-examining...

Jun 15, 2025, 8:33 AM

United Under Fire, Unbreakable in Spirit

Photo Credits: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnzlea/2352618961
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Light in the Darkness: The Spirit of Israel Shines Through War Yesterday, the State of Israel carried out one of the most daring and consequential military operations in its history; a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. While the full...

Jun 14, 2025, 2:40 AM

Rabbinic Judaism in Israel: Continuities and Ruptures

From a historical perspective, Judaism has never ceased to transform—often implicitly—as halakha evolved under the pressure of social realities. These changes frequently led to increasing isolation of Jews from their non-Jewish or secular environments. Some communities chose to adopt the principle...

Jun 13, 2025, 2:00 PM

Is a Leader a Nursing Father? (Beha’alotecha)

It was the emotional low of Moses’ life. After the drama at Sinai, the Revelation, the Golden Calf, the forgiveness, the building of the Tabernacle, and the book-length codes of purity and holiness, all the people can think about...

Ben-Tzion Spitz

Jun 12, 2025, 5:52 PM

Aliyah and Age (Behaalotcha)

"Aliyah" (AI image by author)

Aliyah and Age (Behaalotcha) Home is not where you live, but where they understand you.— Christian Morgenstern For many, the idea of moving to the Land of Israel (Aliyah) represents a central aspiration of Jewish life. It is a theme that...

Jun 11, 2025, 9:34 PM

In Public Service, Character Matters Most: A Rabbi’s Plea from the Pulpit

The podium from which I address my congregation each week, a podium previously occupied by giants of Great Neck’s historic Jewish community, bears an inscription from the 119th psalm: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a...

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