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Aug 25, 2026, 12:05 PM

The Old City Belonged to Everyone Except Me

I used to despise the Old City of Jerusalem. It felt intimidating, heavy, tense. Everyone seemed to belong to some tribe I did not belong to, dressed for a ritual I could not relate to, heading somewhere with absolute purpose. There...

Jul 5, 2026, 5:09 AM

American Men Need More Than Independence

As the United States marks 250 years since its founding, it is worth asking what kind of man this country has spent two and a half centuries trying to produce. The answer is not simple. American manhood has never been...

Allen S. Maller

Jun 29, 2026, 6:33 PM

9th of Av: On Failures of Political and Religious Leaderships #2

When Jews mourn the two destructions of Jerusalem and its Holy Temple on the 9th of Av (July 22-23, 2026 this year) they begin with reading the Biblical Book of Lamentations and feel tears of sorrow, pains of grief,...

Jun 20, 2026, 5:22 PM

Ashraf Pahlavi; A Woman Who Must Be Rediscovered

A famous account is told from the early days of Reza Shah’s exile—days when Allied armies had occupied Iran and the foundation of the First Pahlavi state’s authority was collapsing. According to this account, on the pier of Mauritius,...

Daphne Lazar Price

May 28, 2026, 8:58 PM

The Bitter Waters and the Fear of Women’s Learning

“A man who teaches his daughter Torah teaches her tiflut.” Mishna Sotah 3:4 The Hebrew word tiflut has been translated in a number of ways: foolishness, obscenity, frivolity, impropriety, even promiscuity. None of the translations are flattering. For generations, this language...

Allen S. Maller

Apr 24, 2026, 3:25 AM

Why Females Are Closer To Allah

In the United States and globally, men die by suicide at a rate roughly 3 to 4 times higher than women. So why do you frequently hear preachers say evil and death entered the world because of the original...

Daphne Lazar Price

Mar 18, 2026, 3:36 PM

A Confident Judaism Should Not Fear Women’s Torah at the Wall

For nearly four decades, the debate over the Western Wall has been framed as a battle between denominations. Reform and Conservative leaders demand recognition. Ultra-Orthodox parties demand preservation of “tradition.” The Israeli government oscillates between compromise and capitulation. The...

Karen Reiss Medwed

Feb 27, 2026, 12:11 PM

Will Your Rabbi Be Arrested at the Kotel?

It was 2015, and we were on our way to Israel for our oldest daughter's bat mitzvah. For her celebration, she had chosen to read from the Torah with Women of the Wall at their Rosh Hodesh gathering at...

Steven C. Wernick

Feb 24, 2026, 2:20 AM

The Kotel Belongs to All of US

The struggle over the Kotel has never really been about stones. It has always been about us — about who belongs, whose Judaism counts, and whether the Jewish people can hold more than one way of standing before God without...

Hallel Silverman

Feb 11, 2026, 6:51 PM

From the Kotel to Iran: Protest matters

Illustrative. A woman is arrested for wearing a prayer shawl at the Western Wall in November 2012. (courtesy, Woman of the Wall)

At 17, I was detained by the police for wearing a tallit at the Western Wall. Then I was released and I did it again. And again. Iranians should have the same right

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