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Justine Johnston Hemmestad

Mar 4, 2026, 3:03 AM

Israel and America at War with Iran

President Trump announced early Saturday that the United States, in coordination with Israel, launched a major military operation against Iran on February 28, 2026. The strikes, called Operation Epic Fury, targeted sites connected to Iran’s nuclear program, military infrastructure,...

Feb 27, 2026, 11:47 PM

Parshas Zachor 5786: Amalek in the Age of AI

In simpler times, it was easy to experience Parshas Zachor as having little direct relevance to our own modern lives. Despite the Torah's insistence that it is מדור דור — from generation to generation — seriously claiming Amalek was...

Menachem Creditor

Feb 26, 2026, 11:40 PM

Not forgetting and also remembering (Shabbat Zachor)

On this coming Shabbat we arrive at one of the most morally charged moments in our liturgical year: Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat of Remembering. The Torah commands us, in words that reverberate across centuries, “Remember what Amalek did to you...

Michael Zoosman

Feb 26, 2026, 11:30 PM

Haman and his 10 Sons: 11 Reasons to Oppose Israel’s Death Penalty this Purim

“Hang ‘em high like Haman!” Such is the retort that death penalty supporters often sling at us, the thousands of members of “L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty” in Israel and across the world, as we protest the death penalty...

Feb 26, 2026, 8:21 PM

Shabbat Zachor: Blot Out; Don’t Forget–Memory and Moving On

This Shabbat is not only Parshat Tetzaveh; it is also Shabbat Zachor. The reason it is called that is because we read a passage from Deuteronomy and the haftarah from I Samuel 15:1–34. The two texts relate to the...

Feb 26, 2026, 10:30 AM

Tetzaveh and Zachor – War and the Urim and Thummim

As I write this on February 26, 2026, many of us in Israel are carrying the same unspoken weight: will a larger war engulf us in the coming days. We can look to this week's Parsha for some inspiration. The...

Shamai Leibowitz

Feb 25, 2026, 10:23 PM

Stop Reading ‘Zecher Amalek’ Twice. It’s a Mistake

Most Ashkenazi synagogues are making an unnecessary mistake this Shabbat. On Shabbat Zachor, the Shabbat before Purim, we read a special maftir section referencing the Amalekites' attack on the Israelites in the wilderness. By reading this short passage, we connect the duty...

Feb 22, 2026, 5:40 PM

Remember! – Parashat Zachor

זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם… “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way, when you were leaving Egypt…” (Devarim / Deuteronomy 25:17) Every year, on the Shabbat before Purim, we stand and listen. Not casually....

Aug 18, 2025, 8:05 AM

Remembering Amalek, and also the captive hostages

The rabbinic debaters, in this new Ayin Tova Cartoon, keep their eyesight narrowly focused upon the intellectual and religiously specific question at hand: What is the correct pronunciation of a specific word in the Torah. Ironically enough, the very...

Mar 13, 2025, 11:30 PM

Remembering our enemies, and, even more, our friends

There is only one passage in the Torah that we are commanded to hear—not the Ten Commandments, not the parting of the Red Sea, not the giving of the law—but a simple, haunting imperative: remember what Amalek did to...

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