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Richard H. Schwartz

May 24, 2026, 4:04 PM

What Has Israel Become?

Jews are mandated to be a holy people (Exodus 7:6, Leviticus 19:2), a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:6), God’s witnesses (Isaiah 43:10, 44:8), and a light unto the nations (Isaiah 49:6). Yet, we have become one of the most...

May 10, 2026, 5:35 PM

Judaism and the Modern World – Engaging Without Losing Identity

This essay is one of the winning submissions to the Rabbi Sacks Essay Contest. Drawing on the teachings and writings of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt"l, students were invited to reflect on contemporary questions through the lens of his...

Apr 5, 2026, 4:38 PM

The Punch Haggadah

As my grandchildren recited the Four Questions, my thoughts drifted—unexpectedly—to Punch the Monkey. Yes, Punch-kun, the Japanese macaque. That short-tailed, soft brown-furred monkey with the gentle, closed-lipped smile. That big-eared, cuddly creature we all instinctively wanted to cradle and protect. The same monkey...

Yochanan Schimmelpfennig

Mar 24, 2026, 5:02 PM

Betrayal with Excellent Manners

Betrayal with Excellent Manners There is a specific kind of Jewish failure that war exposes very quickly. It is not the primitive failure of blind loyalty: loud, defensive, allergic to self-criticism. That one is easy to recognize. The more dangerous failure...

Mar 16, 2026, 6:39 AM

To Believe or Not to Believe

I have never been a staunch believer. Nor am I a confirmed atheist. Instead, I have consistently chosen the path of least resistance, i.e. the firm conviction that it is impossible to know whether God exists or not because both...

Dana Greitzer Gotlieb

Feb 10, 2026, 2:14 AM

The Morning After Freedom

Photo: Dana Greitzer · AI-based digital rendering

Imagine waking up in your tent, free from the chains of slavery in Egypt, only to find yourself in an endless, motionless line. This is the "Great Standstill": the moment we realized that freedom requires more than the absence...

Russell F. Robinson

Feb 8, 2026, 11:17 PM

Super Bowl Sunday Reminds Us That Dynasties Build for the Long Game

This Sunday, two teams will walk onto a football field. One will lift the Super Bowl trophy. The other will not. But championships, for all their glitter, are fleeting. Dynasties are something else entirely. Dynasties are built over time—through patience,...

Feb 2, 2026, 4:42 AM

Stars of David: Jewish pioneers in space and Israel’s cosmic rise

Picture this: a nation reborn from the ashes of history, now launching its gaze to the stars. As NASA prepares for Artemis II this month, a historic orbit around the Moon, Israelis have every reason to look up in...

Jan 20, 2026, 7:20 AM

How Judaism Reoriented My Breath—and My Body

I came to Judaism through the Zohar—through Kabbalah, mysticism, and metaphysics. I came through symbols, emanations, hidden worlds, and layered cosmologies. In other words, I came through a channel that often rejects embodiment. This is not unusual. For many modern...

Jan 7, 2026, 3:02 AM

Leaving Galut Is Not a Geography Problem

For too long, Jews have treated exile as a place rather than a mindset. Galut is not merely dispersion. It is a way of thinking; A posture of waiting, habit of asking permission and the reflex that assumes redemption...

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