Moshe Sharett
Diplomat, writer and politician, Moshe Sharett (originally Shertok), the second Prime Minister of Israel, moved with his family to British Mandate Palestine from the Ukraine in 1908, when…
Helping Others
How well do you know your neighbors? One of the most common comments about society today is how much more isolated people are from one another than they were in the days of a more…
Mimouna
Jews rejoice on Passover to celebrate their redemption from slavery in Egypt. Because of Passover’s connection to redemption, there is much hope that the final redemption will soon be at…
Her Other Name
Do you have a Hebrew name that’s different than your legal name? The custom of giving children both secular and Hebrew names is not a modern tradition, but rather goes back to ancient…
A Hero in Hollywood
Like many of the Jews who found success in the early decades of Hollywood show business, Ben Hecht (1893 - 1964) was the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants. When Hecht was born, the family…
The Tragic Story of Bar Kamtza
According to Jewish tradition, God allowed the Second Temple to be destroyed because of Sinat Chinam, senseless hatred between the people of Israel who were unable to get along with one…
The Power of Shabbat
Jewish life ebbs and flows around the celebration of Shabbat. The days of the week are labelled by a count toward Shabbat (Sunday isYom Rishon, the first day; Monday is Yom Shaynee,…
The Eternal Study
In just over a week, Jewish people around the world will celebrate the festival of Shavuot, a holiday that marks the Jewish people receiving the Torah. For well over 3,000 years now, the…
Who Was Rabbi Akiva?
Akiva ben Yosef was once an ignorant and illiterate shepherd. So poor and downtrodden a figure was Akiva that his extremely wealthy father-in-law disinherited Akiva’s wife, Rachel, for…
Her Other Name
Do you have a Hebrew name that’s different than your legal name? The custom of giving children both secular and Hebrew names is not a modern tradition, but rather goes back to ancient…