Analysis
Wednesday, October 16th 2024
Meir Y. Soloveichik Commentary Magazine, October 2023 “But that was not all that Yadin found. The cavern contained letters from Bar Kochba himself, including one written in advance of the Sukkot holiday, referencing the ritual of waving a lulav, a palm frond:” Striking archeological discoveries are a constant in Israel, but they can still occasionally inspire wonder. […]
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Dovid Bashevkin Tablet, Sept. 1, 2021 “I don’t know why we long so for permanence,” writes the philosopher and physicist Alan Lightman, “why the fleeting nature of things so disturbs.” Most Jewish holidays are easy to explain to your non-Jewish colleagues. Many, if not most, know about Passover, and after enough years with enough Jewish […]
Scott Walker Washington Times, Oct. 10, 2024 “Over and over again, we will counter attempts to glorify terrorists and their evil deeds with the truth about the horrors of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and all others who seek to harm Israel and Jewish people around the world. They continue trying to intimidate us, but we will not back […]
Tuesday, June 11th 2024
Jeffrey Levine The Times of Israel, June 9, 2024 “Trust, as a path to enlightenment, often leads to vulnerability, which in turn fosters bravery. Bravery cultivates connection, connection leads to purpose, and purpose enriches life.” As we approach Shavuot, we commemorate the momentous occasion of receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks profoundly […]
Dr. Tzvi Novick The Torah.com, May 27, 2020 “Thus, if in the first stage of Israel’s covenantal history, at Sinai, the people accept responsibility only for sins committed openly, in the second stage, upon entering the land of Israel, they are compelled to accept responsibility also for concealed sins.” Mutual Covenantal Responsibility at Sinai The […]
Leon Kass and Hannah Mandelbaum Jewish Review of Books, May 11, 2021 “… her words bespeak a profound desire—and capacity—for loyal and devoted friendship, that lifelong being-together of souls that, as much as is possible and beyond any mere concourse of bodies, can overcome the isolation and separation of human beings.” The recently widowed Ruth […]
Isranet Daily Briefing
Monday, April 22nd 2024
NATION BUILDING AND PEOPLEHOOD The People-Forming Passover: Leon R. Kass, Mosaic Magazine, Apr. 6, 2020 — The essay below is adapted from Founding God’s Nation: Reading Exodus by Leon R. Kass, forthcoming from Yale University Press in January 2021. _________________________________________________________________ That Pain You’re Feeling Is Peoplehood: Mijal Bitton, Sapir Journal, October 2023 – February 2024 The Undying People: Meir Y. […]
Meir Y. Soloveichik First Things, January 2024 “Anti-Semitism is not a hatred of difference; it is a hatred of Jews.” The collection of Yad Vashem, Israel’s museum of the Holocaust and memorial to its victims, presents us with a chronicle of human barbarity and evil. But in its celebration of those “Righteous Gentiles” who protected […]
Rabbi Dr. Norman Solomon The Torah.com, Mar. 15, 2024 “I hope that, just as we welcome all four ‘sons’ to our table and read to each according to his needs, we can also welcome all four readers, and take from each according to our needs, and the needs of our generation.” You don’t have to be a […]
Mijal Bitton Sapir Journal, October 2023 – February 2024 “This is what Jewish peoplehood feels like. The pain is telling us that the organism is working, that we are still a “we.” This pain is the essence of being — or becoming — a Jew.” The words of the Torah can reflect our profound sorrow in this moment. Each […]
Monday, March 25th 2024 / Sunday, March 24th 2024
Leanne Stillerman Zabow, Times of Israel, Mar. 25, 2024 This is our first Purim in Israel as olim (immigrants). I heard the question “how can we celebrate and be happy at such a time”? asked several times. The resounding idea came through that even more so, we should celebrate this year. We are […]
Stuart Halpern WSJ, Mar. 21, 2024 “Purim’s story reminds its readers that though what the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks called the “dignity of difference” might be intolerable for some, pride in Jewish particularism serves as the wellspring of salvation.” Jews have always been a biblically minded people, but this year one ancient story feels tragically resonant. Synagogues […]
Rabbi Wendy Zierler The Torah.com, Mar. 17, 2016 “Purim merits repeated reassertion and preservation as an enduring truth in modern times and beyond not merely because it serves as a yearly reminder of Jewish vulnerability in exile and our gratitude for all the salvation that chance has sent our way but because it is the holiday […]
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