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Aug 7, 2026, 7:26 PM

When Did We Start Needing Labels?

This morning I was sitting on my mirpeset with a cup of coffee, replaying a conversation I had with my son the night before. It started with what seemed like a simple question. He asked me to compare him and his...

Jul 28, 2026, 10:23 AM

Finding My Way Home: Parashat Va’etchanan Through the Eyes of the Husiatyn Rebbe

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Dedicated to my father, Alexander ben Rachel, with a prayer for his complete and speedy recovery—a refuah shleimah. Part I. The Prayer That Changed the Future Every year, as I read Parashat Va’etchanan, I return to the same question. Why did Hashem...

Joel D. Roberts

Jul 23, 2026, 10:11 AM

Calling My Haredi Teachers to Account

My fellow Jews, I stand in unentitled judgment. I am writing to take religious exception to the Haredi religious exemptions. First, however, two admissions: one, I’m American and have never served in the IDF. I hope to make aliyah...

Eliezer Avraham

Jul 23, 2026, 9:30 AM

The Rebuilding Chronicles

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A Journey Through Loneliness, Brokenness, Destruction and Renewal A lighthouse for the weary soul, a companion for Tisha B’Av and the dawn that follows Every soul that rebuilds walks through four pillars: Loneliness, Brokenness, Destruction and Renewal. These are not obstacles....

Eliezer Avraham

Jul 19, 2026, 2:40 PM

When the Gates Tremble: El Nora Alila as a Path Toward Tisha B’Av

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A reflection on return, memory, and the strength that prepares us for Tisha B’Av Sanctifying Memory As the days move closer to Tisha B’Av, we enter a season when Jewish memory becomes a moral discipline. Other civilizations bury their defeats, erase...

Jul 16, 2026, 12:31 PM

Burdens Worth Bearing

The Torah describes itself as a “song.” This is rather telling about the complex structure of the Torah. A song communicates with its listener through multiple means. The words of the Torah are, in the words of the sages,...

Jul 9, 2026, 8:48 PM

The Way Past the Spiritual Plateau

Some observant Jews describe the same experience. There was a period when observance was vivid. And then, some years later, the vividness thinned. The practice continued. The observance continued. But the aliveness was harder to find. This is the plateau. Observance...

Jul 7, 2026, 1:13 PM

Cosmic Moods: Reform Judaism Meets the Space Age

Rabbi Solomon B. Freehof in his younger years. American Jewish Archives. https://www.americanjewisharchives.org; https://press.huc.edu/pittsburgh-book-launch.
Rabbi Solomon B. Freehof, New Reform Responsa (Philadelphia: The Hebrew Union College Press, 1980), which included a responsum titled “Halacha and Space Travel.”

In 1970 – soon after the lunar landing – the most prolific respondent in American Reform Judaism and an expert on responsa literature, Rabbi Solomon Bennett Freehof (1892-1990), published an article in the Jewish Book Annual, titled “Recent Responsa...

Sam Lehman-Wilzig

Jul 3, 2026, 1:15 PM

Israel: Four Nations Divided by a Common (Dis)Communication System

The recent news about social media has focused on various countries’ efforts to legislatively prohibit social media use by youngsters. That’s a positive micro-turn, but not the macro-threat that is really undermining social cohesion and even democracy: the characteristics...

Jul 2, 2026, 11:47 PM

A Man of Masks and Mountains

One of the saddest moments in the Torah walks hand in hand with one of its most selfless. In this week’s parasha, after counting the Jewish People who will shortly possess the Land of Israel, Moshe is reminded that...

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