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Aug 17, 2026, 12:03 AM

Our Chance Encounter

I was alone in the boatyard, with my back to the wind, on a chilly fall afternoon. The sailing season was ending and I was trying to scrub clean a dark smudge marring the glistening white surface of the...

Aug 10, 2026, 3:18 PM

Saturday morning at the Basimta protests

Overseen by police, young Haredim sit in an alley outside Cafe Basimta, Shabbat morning, in protest of the cafe being open, August 8, 2026. (courtesy, Ninetin Lu)

PHOTO ESSAY - A flashpoint for debate about Israel's future: The Haredim object to an open cafe on the day of rest and secular activists arrive to ensure their Shabbat coffee

Aug 10, 2026, 8:17 AM

Israel Is Surrounded Today. Are You Aware of What Comes Next?

Since October 2023, Israel has fought on six fronts: Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Five of them were not countries in any useful sense. They were militias holding ground inside countries, armed and paid from the same...

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...

Marc J. Rosenstein

Aug 7, 2026, 8:46 AM

The Jewish Power Blog: The Limits of Pluralism

When Korach questioned Moses’ and Aaron’s authority (Num. 16:3), even though it is possible to see his claim as a reasonable appeal for a more democratic governance, no civil discussion ensued. His and his followers’ demand was dismissed as...

Aug 4, 2026, 5:56 PM

We Know Good and Evil. Why Can’t We Choose Life?

When being right becomes the goal, relationships become collateral damage. Recently, I wanted to raise the subject of Israel’s military draft with my Haredi sister. I served in the Israeli army. She belongs to a community that understands Torah study and...

Jonathan Muskat

Jul 29, 2026, 12:22 AM

Beyond the Circle at the Kotel: From Ahavat Yisrael to Achdut

On Motzaei Tisha B’Av, I saw a picture circulating online. Jews of every imaginable background – religious and secular, from different communities and with different hashkafot – standing together at the Kotel, singing and dancing in a circle. It was...

Jul 19, 2026, 4:52 PM

Haredi ingratitude

In this new Ayin Tova cartoon, we see an Ultra-Orthodox Haredi rabbi deliberately spitting into the water source of the Jewish nation. Why would someone spit into a well that they, and others, drink from? This malicious act of pollution...

Jul 3, 2026, 12:23 PM

Shabbat Returns to the US Supreme Court

Three days before the Republic marks its 250th birthday, the United States Supreme Court agreed to answer a question that would have troubled the sleep of American Jews as far back as colonial Newport and Charleston: whether a government...

Yochanan Schimmelpfennig

Jul 2, 2026, 9:25 AM

Seyag LaTorah, Lo Magen Sheker

סְיָג לַתּוֹרָה, לֹא מָגֵן שֶׁקֶר Seyag LaTorah, Lo Magen Sheker A Fence for the Torah, Not a False Shield Torah is not a private shield against the burden of the people. A true fence around Torah protects the sacred not from responsibility,...

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