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Susannah Schild

Oct 18, 2026, 2:58 PM

The worst deal I make every year for the oldest harvest in the land

Olives aplenty. (All photos courtesy of the author)

After last year's poor olive yield, we were somehow certain this year would be plentiful. And so we hunted (and hunted) for the best trees for our oil

Oct 15, 2026, 10:14 AM

Why India’s AI Sovereignty Needs the River-Interlinking Idea

The Bhagiratha Wager and India's AI Sovereignty. An AI Illustration.

Every Hindu household rite begins with a small act of hydraulic engineering. The priest pours water into a vessel and invokes the Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Sarasvati, Narmada, Sindhu and Kaveri to be present in this water. Seven basins are...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Oct 14, 2026, 3:24 PM

Save the raven!

We read about the raven (orev) in Parshat Noach (Breisheet 8:6-7): At the end of forty days, Noach opened the window of the ark which he made. He sent out the raven, and it went out to and fro until...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Oct 7, 2026, 10:03 PM

A Thorny Situation

After they ate from the tree, Adam, Chava and the snake were all cursed. The thorn represents Adam’s curse (Breisheet 3:17-18): “…Accursed is the land because of you; by painful toil you shall eat all of the days of...

Sep 27, 2026, 10:32 AM

On July 27, 1656, the Portuguese Jewish congregation of Amsterdam laid upon Baruch Spinoza a cherem, the ban that cuts a Jew off from the community, for the heresies the sentence accused him of practicing and teaching. Spinoza was...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Sep 22, 2026, 2:25 PM

The four species as a symbol of unity in Israel

Hadas (myrtle) growing in Neot Kedumim nature preserve

In Vayikra 23:40, we read about the four species which are used on Sukkot: You shall take for yourselves, on the first day, the fruit of the beautiful tree, a branch of palm trees, boughs of thick leaved trees and...

Henry Greenspan

Sep 20, 2026, 8:45 AM

The Trail Book of Life

The Gothics. (Wikipedia)

Hiking in the Adirondacks on Yom Kippur yielded its own kind of spiritual resplendence, though I couldn't stop myself poking fun at fellow transgressors there

Ibrahim Mukherjee

Sep 2, 2026, 5:03 AM

Advanced Engineering behind an Apple.

This article is written with my children in mind - to teach them to observe as scientists in the real world. I believe it’s a very good way to teach all children - outside of school (which isn’t very...

Walter Estever Gonzalez

Aug 20, 2026, 6:50 AM

The Mountain That Refused the War

AI-generated illustration inspired by the slopes of Chaparrastique volcano in El Salvador.

People often ask me what I remember most about growing up during El Salvador's civil war. They expect stories about soldiers, explosions, fear, or death. Those memories exist, but they are not the first ones that come to me....

Aug 12, 2026, 9:36 PM

The Small Victories Saving Israel’s Nature Today, a response to Alon Tal

In a recent Times of Israel essay, one of Israel's pioneering environmental leaders, Alon Tal, offered a sobering assessment of the environmental record of Israel's current government. His conclusion was stark: after four years, he struggled to identify a...

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