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May 21, 2026, 10:32 AM

What Counts? (Naso, Covenant & Conversation)

This week’s sedra begins with a continuation of the census begun in last week’s – the act that gives the entire book its English name: the book of “Numbers.” Two things, though, are puzzling. The first is the very...

Stephen Shapiro

May 15, 2026, 1:08 AM

A different look at Israel: Beyond the headlines

A Different Look at Israel: The World's Capital of Innovation Turn on the news, and Israel is often defined by war, politics, and division. But there is another Israel that rarely leads headlines: a country helping transform global healthcare, cybersecurity,...

Apr 29, 2026, 3:43 PM

Building What We Don’t Have (Yet)

I would like to begin with a question. Why do so many Israeli Jews who identify as secular still fast on Yom Kippur, still feel a deep attachment to the Jewish people, and still pass that identity to their...

Apr 22, 2026, 12:19 PM

We Are “Just” Jews

Last week I wrote about the reality that Judaism was never just a religion. Here, I want to consider what happens when we start labeling what kind of Jews we are, or labeling others. I was listening to a...

Apr 15, 2026, 8:42 PM

Judaism Was Never Just a Religion

We are in a stretch of the Jewish calendar that, if you take note, tells us exactly who we are. We have just completed the celebration of Pesach, where we retell the story of leaving Egypt, the moment that...

Apr 15, 2026, 8:01 AM

Microplastics and Israel

I’m watching C-SPAN, where a panel of so-called experts is discussing the dangers of microplastics. I say “so-called” because one of the panelists is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Yes, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—our Secretary of Health and Human Services. Yes, the...

Apr 13, 2026, 1:10 PM

Polanski’s War on Israel

Criticism is one thing; turning the world’s only Jewish state into a political punching bag is quite another There are moments in public life when disagreement is understandable, even necessary. And then there are moments when disagreement mutates into something...

Apr 7, 2026, 10:30 AM

Oslo’s blind spot: Making Jewish heritage negotiable

A 1,300-year-old menorah-decorated pendant was found at the Davidson Archaeological Park in Jerusalem, in a discovery announced on December 15, 2025. (Eliyahu Yanai/City of David)

In the pursuit of peace, Israel treated elements of its past as peripheral, leaving essential sites and stories vulnerable to neglect and reinterpretation

Monique Dietvorst

Apr 3, 2026, 5:48 PM

Matt Walsh, Puritanical Thinking, and the Extremes It Creates

The Pendulum Swing: How Puritanical Thinking Fuels the Extremes It Claims to Oppose In today’s culture wars, figures like Matt Walsh present themselves as defenders of tradition, morality, and order. But there’s a deeper pattern at play—one that rarely gets...

Monique Dietvorst

Mar 22, 2026, 9:20 AM

Legalizing Prostitution: Lessons from the Netherlands

In Edmonton, a horrifying pattern has persisted for decades: a serial killer targeting mostly First Nations women, many of them involved in sex work. Their bodies have been found dumped around the city, highlighting the extreme vulnerability of women...

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