Rabbinic literature includes the names and teachings of many great and well-known sages. Yet, the rabbi who is mentioned most often in our liturgy is Rabbi Chanania ben Akashya — an obscure … more

Years ago, my mother clipped a newspaper column for me to read. At that point, I was more Israeli than American, and when I saw the long last name of the writer, “Krauthammer,” I … more

Maxim Cohen was born in Morocco and made aliyah as child. He enlisted in the IDF, but left Israel with his parents after the Six-Day War to live in France. On Yom Kippur in 1973, … more

In ancient times, if a person killed someone else accidentally, a trial could sentence the perpetrator to exile in a city of refuge, for a term that would last until the death of the kohen … more

It’s never wise to get into an argument about the Holocaust with Yad Vashem. That’s the moral of the story of Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to resolve a quarrel with … more

Imam Mundhir Abdallah is a good example of the dilemma facing Danish politicians when they respond to extremism among the country’s 300,000 Muslims, most of whom are first- or … more

We are now approaching the end of the Three Weeks, the saddest period of the Jewish year. It concludes with Tisha b’Av, commemorating the destruction of two Holy Temples. In an oft-quoted … more

This year, it is once again my honor to bring to your attention another work of great scholarship by Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb — his beautiful translation of the Kinot liturgy for Tisha … more

Now that summer is in full swing and barbecue invitations are plentiful, I have to curb my penchant for hot dogs. You see, at a barbecue, I can easily scarf down three hotdogs, aside from chicken and … more

I write this from the sweltering heat of Florida. Florida in July is often cooler than the Northeast in July, but not this summer — Florida has been under a heat wave of epic proportions. … more