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Michael Bresler

Sep 6, 2026, 6:23 PM

The People Who Keep Showing Up

Seeing myself last week on the cover of the Baltimore Jewish Times was pretty cool. But it got me thinking about all the people who aren't here anymore. The people who showed up before us. Every Jewish community has them. The people who built...

Sep 4, 2026, 1:20 AM

Shalom Brothers: The Art of Letting Go (Nitzavim)

There is a particular temptation that comes with leadership, especially for men who have spent years building organizations, communities, careers, or reputations. We begin by wanting to serve something larger than ourselves. Eventually, almost without noticing, we can start...

Stephen A. Cooper

Sep 1, 2026, 10:22 AM

“A pound of flesh” for a piece of skull

When she was 18, Christa Pike taunted and beat 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, eventually slashing her throat and body with a box cutter. Pike and an accomplice carved pentagrams into Slemmer’s body and when she still didn’t die, Pike picked...

Michael Bresler

Aug 30, 2026, 5:04 PM

The Card I’ve Carried in My Wallet for Years

There is a card in my wallet that has been there for years. It is nothing fancy. Just a few words. On one side: It's never too late... On the other: It's later than you think... I received it in 2014, when I was sitting in...

Aug 28, 2026, 10:29 AM

The Altneu Beginning

The Jews stood on the cusp of the realization of a dream, first envisioned over a quarter of a millennium earlier. Whether as drifting strangers in the Land of Canaan, beaten slaves in Egypt, or weary wanderers in the...

Aug 27, 2026, 2:20 PM

When Leadership Fails to Lead

A little more than a year ago a group of 80 Rabbis wrote a letter espousing their moral outrage for Israel’s behavior in Gaza, Yehuda and Shomron. The term people use for these rabbis is Orthodox. I have always...

Daniel R. Weiss

Aug 26, 2026, 8:48 PM

Do You Give Belonging, or Earn It?

Is belonging something you give, or something you keep earning? I have been thinking about that question since a friend and fellow head of school, who is brand new in his role, wrote to a group of us this summer....

Michael Bresler

Aug 23, 2026, 3:32 PM

The Best Use of AI in Schools May Have Nothing to Do With Students

Most conversations about AI and schools end up in the classroom. Should students use ChatGPT, Claude, etc? Is it cheating? How should teachers change assignments? Will students still learn to write, research, and think critically? We should be having those conversations. But I we're overlooking...

Michael Bresler

Aug 17, 2026, 12:00 AM

What If We Made Jewish Life Easier?

Some of the most meaningful moments in Jewish life come with a surprising amount of logistics. Some could call it painful A bar or bat mitzvah. A wedding. The High Holidays. A family celebration. We want to remember the people, the prayers, the music,...

Aug 16, 2026, 4:30 PM

What Makes a Great Leader?

Among the greatest challenges confronting the United States and Israel this year are our respective populations’ efforts to clarify the values of our next set of leaders and dominant political parties. Though there is no single style of effective...

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