In 1801, Thomas Jefferson had finally had enough. For the better part of 25 years, Americans had been paying ransom and tribute to the Arab nations of the Barbary Coast (Morocco, Algeria, … more

The news cycle can be a fickle thing, particularly in a week when Americans are deservedly celebrating their independence and enjoying (where applicable) the sunshine. In such periods, stories that … more

There is an old Broadway song that urges us to “Look to the Rainbow” — for love, luck and a happy life. Another one tells us that beyond the rainbow is a place where dreams come … more

    The mourning for Miriam is wholly inadequate, and it opened the door for the unfortunate events of Mei Merivah, which concluded with a need for different leadership to bring the … more

Not long ago, I heard a powerful vignette from Rabbi Marvin Hier, the former director of the Simon Wiesenthal center. When Simon Wiesenthal, the famous Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter, celebrated … more

American Jews have a long and understandable tradition of advocacy for immigrants. That’s due in part to the fact that most Jews were the children and grandchildren of immigrants as the … more

We take it for granted that the way to address the evil of anti-Semitism is to fight it. It’s a natural part of our vocabulary. We fight, we confront, we condemn, we call out. We refuse to … more

Israeli society has been gripped over the past week by the killing of Solomon Tekah, an unarmed 19-year-old Ethiopian Israeli. On June 30, an off-duty Israeli police officer shot and killed Tekah … more

Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” — Edmund Burke, 18th-century political philosopher. R egarding the Shoah, Burke’s famous line was cut down to … more

In the midst of countrywide fury over two deadly serious issues — the killing of an Ethiopian Israeli teenager by a police officer in Haifa, and the horrifying abuse … more