Can’t We Agree on the Blessings over Brit Milah?
Parashat Vayera contains the story of the circumcision of Isaac (Genesis 21:4), the first person to undergo the ritual of circumcision on the eighth day of life. At a Brit Milah, the…
Ginger Ail?
Happy “Love Your Red Hair Day”! Those endowed with ginger-ness (In Israel, a redheaded person is called a “gingy”), 1% of the world’s population and 2% of that of the United States, are…
Counting on You?
Every nation seeks to know how many citizens it has, which can also inform the nation of the quantitative strength of its armed forces. In democratic countries, counting the nation also…
The 10th Cow
Parashat Chukat opens with the very cryptic and inexplicable law of the Red Heifer. This completely unblemished red calf, with no more than two non-red hairs, and that had never been…
What’s in the Book: Ezekiel
The 48 chapters of the Book of Ezekiel are filled with wondrous visions. Ezekiel’s first vision is of a fiery chariot drawn by creatures with four faces (of a man, a lion, an ox and an…
Manna from Military Aircraft?
Is there a connection between “Manna,” the food from heaven that sustained the Children of Israel in the Sinai wilderness, and a World War II humanitarian military operation? On the…
Reunited and It Feels So Good!
Have you missed the unity with our Israeli brothers and sisters these past three-and-a- half months? Has our non-alignment bothered you? When the first day of Passover falls on Shabbat,…
The Arc in the Sea
God’s incredible miracle splitting the Red Sea and saving the Israelite people from the oncoming Egyptian army, was one of the greatest miracles and moments the world has ever…
When Was the First Shabbat?
Shabbat, the seventh day of the week, is described in chapters one and two of Genesis, as God’s “day of rest.” From time immemorial, until the present day, the human race has been…
Hadassah: The Women’s Zionist Organization of America
In the year 1912, there was no state of Israel, women had not yet earned the right to vote in the U.S., and Henrietta Szold (Baltimore 1860 - Jerusalem 1945) was inspiring Jewish women…