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Andy Blumenthal

Sep 14, 2026, 6:45 AM

The Laps We Keep Walking

On Rosh Hashanah, we come to synagogue carrying more than a prayer book. We carry the year that was: the disappointments we did not expect, the fears we did not voice, the losses we still cannot quite name, and the...

Sep 8, 2026, 1:40 PM

This past December I became seriously ill, and only later did I understand how close the angel of death had come on that first night in the hospital. Fortunately, those caring for me made sure he was ultimately kept...

Sep 6, 2026, 7:25 AM

Rising from Loss: Rosh Hashanah and 9/11 Remembered

Rosh Hashanah, literally meaning the “head of the year” in Hebrew, marks the beginning of the Jewish High Holy Days and serves as one of the most sacred observances in Judaism. Traced to biblical roots and observed on the...

Sep 1, 2026, 8:11 AM

You Can Run From Zionism. But You Can Never Escape Your Judaism

Brad Lander, a progressive Jewish politician in New York, attending Zohran Mamdani's primary election watch party in June 2025. (Heather Khalifa/AP)

Brad Lander has spent years of his political career trying to prove that being Jewish does not require being a supporter of Israel. Last weekend, he was shown that people don't care. Lander, the Democratic nominee for New York’s 10th...

Marc J. Rosenstein

Aug 21, 2026, 8:36 AM

The Jewish Power Blog: Powerless Leaders

According to Jeremiah chapter 38, during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem (587 BCE), the prophet is sent to prison for prophesying that rebellion against Babylon will lead to destruction – that Babylonian rule must be accepted as a punishment...

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....

Andy Blumenthal

Aug 9, 2026, 6:35 AM

When No One Is Watching, What Does G-d See?

Character is rarely tested in the moments we prepare for. It is not proven only in the grand public causes we argue about—justice, war, peace, or the future of nations. Often, it is revealed in unwatched moments: a medical...

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...

Aug 7, 2026, 6:10 PM

Just a Shabbes. An Inner Magnet of Jewish Cultural Code

Michael Rogatchi (C). Freilax. Daily Miracles collection. Oil on canvas. 77 x 94 cm. 1995. The Rogatchi Art Collection.

Recently, we were lucky to attend a very nice Shabbat gathering on Friday evening, almost literally at the serene Baltic shore of Jurmala in Latvia, near its capital Riga. One can say that it has been one of many Shabbes...

Walter Estever Gonzalez

Aug 6, 2026, 5:43 AM

The Bridge That Held Us Together

Puente Litoral (later widely known as Puente de Oro), over the Lempa River in El Salvador, photographed on January 20, 1953. Courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, via Wikimedia Commons.

In 1988, a dog with rabies bit me in San Jorge. I do not remember the bite as clearly as I remember what came after it: the buses, the hospitals, the bridges, and my older brother sitting beside me...

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