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The Times of Israel (Blogs)![]() |
As an Israeli, it’s not obvious to dedicate your career to influencing American policy. But for me, joining J Street—a pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-...
Hadrian said to Rabbi Joshua: “Mighty is the lamb that can survive among seventy wolves.” And he replied: “Mighty is the shepherd who can save and...
When something’s strange in the world. When people behave off the wall. When massacres are considered virtuous. When woke means going to sleep....
The biblical portion Kedoshim, 19:1-20:26, is read together with the prior portion of Aharei Mot during non-leap years, as happens during the week...
His New Book, “The Holy and the Broken: A cry for peace from a land that must be shared” Meet Ittay Flescher, Peacenik, Mench, and Writer of...
The relationship between Jerusalem and Dublin, certainly in modern times, has been one defined by conflict and controversy. Despite so much in...
My grandfather William Verstandig (Z”l) was one tough dude. After escaping the Nazis as a teenager, he was diagnosed with cancer and given less than...
Introduction: The film “Jud Süß 1940,” which is better known in English as “The Jew Ziss” is considered to express topics directly or...
Shalom, Hannah. Your recent instagram post was upsetting for multiple reasons. My name is Hallel, and I’m a liberal Zionist activist. I had a safe,...
Since October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched the deadliest terrorist attack against Israel in decades, I made a clear decision both as an Israeli...
Are you into AI? I keep on seeing different aspects of it all around me. Personally, I am slow to technology, and as a writer, I want my own brain...
By far, the hardest thing to adjust to after returning to civilian life from the army—from the war—is how quick people are to call me a hero. I am...
On May 8th the world will mark the 80th anniversary of VE (Victory in Europe) Day. The defeat of Nazi Germany by the allied forces marked a...
Who am I? This is a question that can have many answers. On a simple level, you are who you see in the mirror. On a deeper level, each person is a...
Take politics out of the story. Close your eyes and imagine a Chanukah gathering, a peaceful protest for ending antisemitism or a local fundraiser...
The death of Pope Francis was mourned by many Jewish groups, a sign of how far Catholic-Jewish relations have come in recent decades. Indeed, in a...
While not an elected leader per se, though influential nonetheless, the figure of Galeazzo Ciano (pronounced “Chano”), was tapped by Italian...
In the aftermath of October 7, 2023, a seismic awakening has rippled through the Jewish world. The sense of shock, betrayal, and disbelief wasn’t...
For those keeping score- we’re marking today an aufruf, a birthday, and a yartzeit. If you throw in a bris or baby naming, and a bar or bar...
(Vayikra/Leviticus 16:1-2 ) (Vayikra/Leviticus 19:9 ) (Vayikra/Leviticus 19:27 ) Parshiot Aharei Mot and Kedoshim are usually paired together as a...
The Islamic Republic claims to possess military superiority and an overwhelming number of combat-ready soldiers. However, any professional observer...
There is an important and under-discussed topic in the Orthodox community that needs to be brought to attention. Israel advocacy should not and...
The Orthodox Union regularly publishes Jewish Action, a glossy quarterly magazine that, in my opinion, covers the Orthodox world better than any...
As Jews gathered around the Seder table this year—as we have for thousands of years—to recount the story of our liberation from Egypt, one line...
Al Jolson was in a class all by himself. From about 1912 until 1934, he was the most highly paid entertainer in the United States. What Enrico...
This year’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Hostilities (2025/5785) brought to light a deeply personal aspect of this solemn...
9/11. Western allies smashed Afghanistan and Iraq. Civilians died. Many civilians. But the West didn’t stop. They attacked the attackers. World War...
The clock is ticking I don’t have long to write The lake is at 9. A 30-minute drive then the donning of gear in the carpark, registration then a...
B’’H For many Jewish college students, the response from people we deemed to be friends or at least neutral observers of the Middle East to the...
In 2014, then First Lady Michelle Obama admirably helped lead a global campaign to rescue 276 schoolgirls who had been taken hostage by Boko Haram,...
In this week’s Torah portion, we learn about the high priest entering the Holy of Holies on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, to secure...
The Torah introduces the laws of the sacrificial services of Yom Kippur by noting that Hashem relayed them to Moses after the deaths (acharei mot)...
In the year 2000 I took my social-justice Judaism on a trip to the Palestinian Territories. I planned to teach (and love) Palestinian children in...
A popular misconception is that you are either a foolhardy peacenik who doesn’t know how to defend the country or you are an extremist nationalist...
In every generation, Jews are called to see themselves as if they personally went out from Egypt. This ritual refrain is more than liturgy—it’s a...
Traveling as a religious Jew in the U.S. is easier than anywhere but Israel. Across 76 trips (yes—I counted and checked), I’ve had some special...
*Originally published February 2022 in NJJN A year ago our rabbi gave me the privilege of delivering the Shabbat morning sermon to our...
A message from Peace: Don’t forget me. We must revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. An initiative that has lain dormant for the last...
Many people in Israel and overseas are trying to understand what the role of Israel should be in the dramatic events involving the Druze in Syria...
I had a dream the other night that the current Prime Minister of Israel —Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, or Bibi, as he likes to be called—actually...