The Jews of Cyprus
The history of the Jews in Cyprus is surprisingly "benign" given the island’s proximity to both Europe and the Holy Land. The third largest island in the Mediterranean, Cyprus was home to…
The Charleston Synagogue(s)
Charleston, South Carolina is home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in the United States. The 1669 charter for the Carolina Colony explicitly included liberty of conscious for…
Legal to Take?
With all the discussion, in the last few years, about the legalization of marijuana, one might have wondered what is the traditional Jewish perspective. It is, not surprisingly, a rather…
The Sabbath of Remembering
This Shabbat is Shabbat Parashat Zachor, the Sabbath of Remembering. The Torah portion that is read as the Maftir (additional) portion, after the conclusion of the regular…
The Jews of Ecuador
While Ecuador does not have a large Jewish population, (there are fewer than 400 active members of the community), its history mirrors that of many South American and Central American…
Natural Born Leadership
“No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President” (U.S.…
On the Canadian Prairie
Thirty-three years old at the time of his immigration, Grodno-born Rabbi Israel Isaac Kahanovitch was called to Winnipeg, Manitoba, after spending a year in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He had…
Great Scots!
The story of the great masses of Eastern European Jews who arrived in New York and settled on the Lower East Side of Manhattan is now more than conventional history, but an ingrained…
The Sabbath of Remembering
This Shabbat is Shabbat Parashat Zachor, the Sabbath of Remembering. The Torah portion that is read as the Maftir (additional) portion, after the conclusion of the regular…
West Point
Last spring, the Jewish news media delightedly reported that Rachelle David was the first female graduate of an Orthodox Jewish High School to be accepted to West Point. It is a…