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Ruthie Hollander

Oct 8, 2026, 11:15 PM

When God grieves: Ayeka, Eikha

I recently tried to explain the concept of a rhetorical question to my 4-year-old. “I know the answer to the question,” I told her. “I’m asking because I want you to think about it.” In Parashat Bereishit, mankind is asked...

Mordechai Soskil

Oct 7, 2026, 5:30 PM

‘Ayeka’ is already too late

'God Judging Adam,' by William Blake, 1795. (Wikipedia)

What if Adam had had the spiritual awareness to seek out God to apologize before God pushed him to own up to his sin? (Bereishit)

Oct 6, 2026, 3:34 PM

The Heavens Belong to God: May a Jew Leave Earth?

Apollo 8 Flight Plan, Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-apollo-8-delivered-moment-christmas-eve-peace-and-understanding-world-180976431/
Overlaid with astronaut:, stock photography licensed via Canva

Early Space exploration precipitated an interest in how Jewish law might be kept beyond the confines of planet Earth. Before asking how Halakha could be observed in Space, we need to return to an earlier question: whether humans may...

Oct 5, 2026, 6:57 PM

Inner Lights Throughout a Year: Art & Life

Inna Rogatchi (C). Circle of Hope.

Artistic re-examination of an annual Jewish Holidays New Art Collection Part I of 3 With a new Jewish year started recently, and the new Torah annual circle taking off, it is an appropriate time for presenting the new art collection re-examining an...

Hande Gençünal

Oct 2, 2026, 1:55 AM

The Vessel of Good Intentions

On gifts, debts, and tzimtzum Not long ago, I told a friend about something that had hurt me. She listened quietly and then reminded me of a sentence she had always liked, and believed came from Dante. The road to...

Celeste Aronoff

Oct 1, 2026, 2:58 AM

How I’m Going to Save the World

I scroll and read and share and quote about Israel & Jews non-stop. I consume ‘Suicidal Empathy’ by Gaad Saad and agree with every example, every conclusion. I follow increasingly conservative commentators and news outlets, arguing with my various...

Sep 29, 2026, 11:15 AM

‘Meeting’ Martin Buber

My first "meeting" with Martin Buber's I and Thou was a flop. I knew he had something important to say but, from the little I understood from the book, I could not figure out what it was. Time passed....

Andy Blumenthal

Sep 28, 2026, 3:56 AM

Hard-Code G-d Into AI

Artificial intelligence cannot answer only to human commands. It must be built to serve the goodness of G-d and protect the people and world He created. A friend told me about a colleague who accepted lucrative night work after his...

Ibrahim Mukherjee

Sep 26, 2026, 1:27 PM

The best perfume you can wear.

What the everyday conduct of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ teaches us about the impression we leave on others. Before leaving home, we check the mirror. We straighten a collar, adjust our hair and perhaps apply a little perfume. We want our...

Sep 23, 2026, 5:55 AM

A Jewish Take on AI and Social Media

Note: The sermon version of this article, titled, "Can Claude be Counted for a Minyan?" was delivered on Kol Nidrei at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation (Bethesda, MD), where Rabbi Schwarz is the Founding Rabbi. Increasingly, people I spend time with...

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