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Sharona Margolin Halickman

Jul 18, 2018, 5:02 PM

Take the trip and explain later

In Parshat Dvarim (Dvarim 1:22), Moshe recounts: “You approached me, all of you, and said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us to spy out the Land for us, and let them bring back word to us, the route...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Jul 12, 2018, 12:06 AM

Why should we specifically settle Israel?

In Parshat Masei (Bamidbar33:53) we are commanded: “Drive out the inhabitants of the land and settle in it, because I have given this land to you to possess.” Ramban (Nachmanides) believes that it is a positive commandment to dwell in...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Jul 6, 2018, 8:37 PM

Guess who was not involved in the sin of the spies?

When we speak about Chet HaMiraglim, the sin of the spies, we mention that Yehoshua and Calev were the only two of the twelve spies who did not bring a false report and they were therefore not punished as...

Jul 5, 2018, 11:10 PM

How do you inherit your heritage? Ritual!

Illustrative: Russian-speaking Jewish Americans at Limmud FSU in Princeton, NJ (Courtesy Ross Den)

Jokes and borscht from my parents' Russia pale in comparison to the customs and practices of Judaism

Michael J. Salamon

Jul 2, 2018, 4:40 PM

Religion and Belonging

A 17-year-old boy, smart, very self-aware and insightful came to see me because his parents thought he was depressed. They are caring, nurturing and concerned parents who will spare no expense for the well-being of their children. The young...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Jun 27, 2018, 10:31 PM

Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God

In the Haftara for Parshat Balak (Micha 5:6-6:8), we read the prophecy of Micha which recalls some of the ways in which God protected B’nai Yisrael during the forty years that they spent in the wilderness. One of the...

Jun 27, 2018, 10:31 AM

Parshat Balak and the Three Weeks

So, here are at the Three Weeks again and soon the nine days again. We go through the motions of mourning and pretending that we miss the Beit Mikdash (and maybe we want the 3rd Temple to restore God’s...

Jun 25, 2018, 12:56 AM

Toward Partnership with the Haredim

We who try to keep our politics separate from religion often treat those who do not do so as adversaries of the public good. Israel’s secular Jewish population is no exception; you do not need to search far to...

Sivan Rahav Meir

Jun 24, 2018, 1:09 PM

Democrats, Lieberman, and the political future

Illustrative: Sen. Joseph Lieberman, left, with Sen. John McCain at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, January 31, 2014. (Joerg Koch/Getty Images via JTA)

The Jewish narrative is far larger than any current enmeshment with the Republican Party

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Jun 22, 2018, 4:28 PM

Moshe’s work is never done

In Parshat Chukat (Bamidbar 20:7-8), God asked Moshe to speak to the rock so that it may bring forth water. However, Moshe hit the rock instead of speaking to it. In verse 12, God said to Moshe and Aharon,...

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