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Nathan Lopes Cardozo

May 23, 2018, 12:14 PM

Why a Second Day Yom Tov?

The Incomparable Greatness of the Land of Israel One of the most puzzling laws in Halacha (Jewish Law) is the requirement to observe a second day Yom Tov (festival) in all Jewish communities outside of Israel. Before the establishment of a...

Shammai Engelmayer

May 17, 2018, 6:10 PM

Another ‘Four Questions’: Prepping for Shavuot

Here are four questions to help prepare you for this weekend: On what date does it say Passover falls? On what date does it say Rosh Hashanah falls? On what date does it say we should begin counting the Omer? On what date...

Apr 24, 2018, 9:46 AM

I love Israeli television. At this time of the year I can watch it for hours. I don’t mean the programs, they prompt me to make a cup of tea or fill the dishwasher. And definitely not the news....

Ziona Greenwald

Apr 13, 2018, 4:44 PM

The Call of the Siren

In New York City, where I spent the first four decades of my life, wildly cacophonous noise is ordinary. The screech of brakes, drivers honking, ambulances wailing, the lumbering of trains crossing the bridge before heading underground again --...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Mar 7, 2018, 2:20 PM

The importance of the artists

In Parshat Pekudei (Shmot 39:32), B’nai Yisrael received the credit for building the Mishkan (Tabernacle): Thus was finished all the work of the Tabernacle of the tent of meeting; and B’nai Yisrael did according to all that the Lord commanded...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Jan 31, 2018, 3:10 PM

In Memory of Haim Gouri

The Israeli Poet, Haim Gouri passed away today at the age of 94. He wrote the following poem called Yerusha, Heritage based on the themes from Akedat Yitzchak (The binding of Isaac): The ram came last of all And Avraham didn’t...

Jan 31, 2018, 12:14 PM

I'm not feeling inspired. But neither was the tree. I'm giving a talk tonight, but I'm not feeling rooted, or even grounded. How am I to spread my branches and give off fruit, if I don't feel connected to my...

Dec 24, 2017, 3:06 PM

The essence of Judaism and religion — Orthodox (faith) or Orthoprax (good deeds)

There is an ancient debate in the Talmudic tradition concerning the question as to the essence of Judaism and religion – faith or good deeds. Rashi (the great commentator of the 11th century) cites a debate between two great Talmudic...

Dec 17, 2017, 7:21 PM

The verse ‘I am the Lord your God’

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, in his blog on the Torah reading of the week (Va’etchanan 5777), presents two arguments in the Jewish tradition regarding the opening verse of the “10 statements” (and the Biblical term is “10 statements” and not...

Dec 10, 2017, 4:17 PM

Heresy and moral atheism

Maimonides (the great legal scholar and philosopher of the 12th century) is the first and only thinker in the Jewish tradition to codify principles of faith within a legal framework as a binding theological dogma in codifying his “13...

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