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Sep 17, 2026, 9:47 PM

Let them know! We had just finished a long Rosh Hashana davening when I was approached by a man in the shul who I did not know. He told me," You have no idea how much joy you just brought...

Sep 17, 2026, 8:45 PM

Cycles of Time, Holiday Challah and the Milky Way

Spiritual growth can be perplexing and that's why it's helpful to ground ourselves in our spiritual traditions and cycles of time. I am following up on some insights of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel that Jews hallow time. Taking a look...

Sep 17, 2026, 8:32 PM

I Miss the Mistakes

I miss typos. I miss misspelled words, sentences that go on too long and emails that end without quite knowing how to end. I miss bulletin articles with clumsy transitions. I miss sermons that take a strange turn because...

Sagit Alkobi Fishman

Sep 17, 2026, 3:41 PM

In Smotrich’s AI Video, He Doesn’t Win by Argument. He Wins by Force.

Jewish tradition treats disagreement as a value. Pirkei Avot promises that a dispute "for the sake of Heaven" will endure. This week, during the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Religious Zionism party released...

Richard H. Schwartz

Sep 17, 2026, 10:59 AM

Patriotism Is Not Blind Loyalty: Why Jews Should Challenge Israel to Live Up to Its Highest Values

A profound difference exists between loving one's country and believing it can do no wrong. The old slogan, “My country, right or wrong,” asks citizens to put national loyalty above conscience. But that is not the highest form of patriotism....

Sep 16, 2026, 4:56 AM

Hallowing Time – Fashionable Zionist Wrist Watches

Friends, this column is inspired by a fellow TOI blogger, Keith Brooks who wrote a recent article entitled, "Your Wrist Is About To Start An Argument With Your Rabbi" about the annoying and ubiquitous presence of beeping smart watches...

Allen S. Maller

Sep 15, 2026, 8:35 PM

Was Song Of Songs A Manual Of Jewish Sacred Sexuality: But Not On Yom Kippur

Sexual relations are prohibited on Yom Kippur, the day of At-one-ment. While Judaism encourages sex between married couples for both pleasure and procreation, experiencing sexual pleasure on a day intended to focus on repentance, and other spiritual matters is...

Sep 15, 2026, 8:24 PM

One of the best books published this year

Graphic novels can offer something distinctive: they combine words, images, design, and pacing, so readers actively interpret both what the text says and what the pictures imply. This can make complex stories, historical events, and religious narratives more immediate...

Ben-Tzion Spitz

Sep 15, 2026, 6:02 PM

Beware the Four Horsemen (Haazinu)

"The Four Horsemen" (AI image by author)

“I’m not afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” – Woody Allen Death chases us all down like an implacable horseman; it is merely the time and the manner of the dying that is...

Sep 15, 2026, 12:26 AM

Avoiding Surplus Guilt for the Day of At-One-Ment

Friends, many years ago I attended a pre-high holidays workshop at my Toronto synagogue led by psychiatrist Dr. Norman Doidge. He lectured on the concept of 'surplus guilt' that can be incapacitating and unhelpful as we navigate our Jewish...

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