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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...

Andy Blumenthal

Aug 2, 2026, 4:57 AM

Don’t Wait Until Death to Learn How to Live

Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a novel about Eddie, an aging amusement-park maintenance worker who dies trying to save a child and then meets five people in heaven. Each encounter helps him understand a...

Jul 24, 2026, 11:21 PM

Mt. Sinai at Dawn. Photograph by David Raphael

Each morning starts the same. I head down to the kitchen at 6:30 am, put a corn muffin in the toaster and make a cup of coffee. Drinking my coffee, I open the NY Times on my iPod and scan...

Walter Estever Gonzalez

Jul 23, 2026, 5:51 AM

The Boy Everyone Called Calavera

A Salvadoran mother offers a meal to a young soldier during the country's civil war. AI-generated illustration based on the author's recollection.

I no longer remember his real name. Everyone called him Calavera—the Spanish word for "Skull." His real name disappeared long ago, but the nickname remained. That’s how memory sometimes survives war: it forgets names but refuses to let go...

Walter Estever Gonzalez

Jul 9, 2026, 7:00 AM

The Scream That Followed Me Home

Illustration created with AI based on the author's memories.

There are sounds that never completely leave the body. They fade for years, hide beneath work, distance, language, and adulthood. Then one afternoon, without warning, they return exactly as they first arrived—raw, immediate, and alive. For me, it was...

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