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Yaakov Don

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Sep 2, 2021, 11:21 AM

Teshuvah, Kappara and Independence

In Parashat Nitzavim, Dvarim 29:9 (Deuteronomy) it says, “You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God …” Verse 10 lists several different categories of people within the Jewish nation, from the heads of the tribes...

Nov 11, 2016, 5:28 PM

Finding the Light in the US Elections

I’m looking out over Lake Kenilworth in Asheville, North Carolina, and see thousands of glimmering darts of sunlight on what can sometimes be a very dark and murky body of water. And that is a metaphor that speaks to...

David Seidenberg

Aug 11, 2016, 11:17 AM

Why I’m fasting on Tisha B’Av: A reflection on our endangered times

There has never been a moment in my generation's lifetime when Tisha B'Av was more relevant. The crisis of refugees from Syria and other war-torn countries has overwhelmed European political systems and threatens to overwhelm our own. We think...

Mar 1, 2016, 4:14 AM

Wave of Mutilation

In the last hours of February, 2016, I want to pay tribute and say a prayer for the Aliyah of a neshamah who was taken from us twenty years ago. Sara Duker, a sweet, smart and funny girl, who...

Jan 17, 2016, 4:17 PM

CannaPrenuer - it’s not all about the dollars

Swaths of cannabis near the village of Ketama in the Village of Bni Hmed in the Ketama Abdelghaya valley, northern Morocco, on September 14, 2014. (photo credit: AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)

A new breed of entrepreneur is using cannabis to make money - and fight a good fight

Dec 25, 2015, 6:09 PM

Chazak Chazak Venichazek- Be Strong and Be Strengthened

Earlier this week I was driving home and got to the light on Route 60 where you can make the left into Efrat North. This light only changes if it is tripped by a car on the pressure plate....

Dec 11, 2015, 8:19 AM

Fight the Darkness

As the holiday of lights comes to an end, we consider the miracles that have brought us to this place and time, shecheyanu, v’kiyamanu l’zman hazeh. We have seen miracles worked through the hands of “everyday people”, who stopped...

Dec 1, 2015, 12:30 PM

Sirens, sirens everywhere

Sirens. A single piercing sound disrupts my work. And another. The cacophony of sound forces my attention away from the daily rush to get things done before the kids start coming home, turning my thoughts instead to worry about...

Nov 25, 2015, 7:22 AM

The Day Ezra Changed the World

It is 10:15 PM on Thursday, November 19th, and I am sitting in LAX. It has been a very long day. I woke up for a 6 AM conference call with Israel and was immediately assaulted by the reports...

Nov 24, 2015, 8:46 PM

Silence in the face of evil

Dietrich Bonhoeffer remained true to his words above by fighting the Nazis in WWII, and he died for them when he was executed by the Nazis (by hanging) on the 9th of April, 1945. The truth is that I...

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