In Israel, even a bus ride can become an existential experience. There are many Jews with a more conservative approach to modesty within Jewish tradition, who are very uncomfortable sitting next to someone of the opposite sex. I recall, once, on a long, crowded bus ride from Haifa to Jerusalem, watching a fellow in a long black coat and black hat struggling with this issue. more

This week’s portion, Shelach, contains one of the most challenging stories in the entire Torah: the story of the spies. “Sh’lach Lecha’ Anashim Ve’Yaturu …” “Send out spies for yourselves…” (Numbers 13:1) more

Take a drive up the south side of the Golan Heights, and you will see one of the most incredible vistas in Israel. more

This week we celebrate the festival of Shavuot, commemorating a moment, 3200 years ago, when we all stood together, beneath a wind-swept mountain, deep in the Sinai desert. more

A story is told of a Jewish man who was riding on the subway reading a newspaper of the Klu Klux Klan. A friend of his, who happened to be riding in the same subway car, noticed this strange phenomenon. Very upset, he approached the newspaper reader, 
“Moshe, have you lost your mind? Why are you reading a Klu Klux Klan newspaper?” more

It was our first Masah, our first forced march. We were barely two weeks in the army, and Itzik, a sadistic little first sergeant who had made it his mission to make us, or rather, break us into soldiers, owned us for the night. more

This week, in America, you will read the double portion of Acharei-Mot-Kedoshim which, translated literally, means “after the death of the holy ones,” a meaning that was all too appropriate last week when we were reading the same double portion, as it fell on the Shabbat immediately following Israel’s Memorial and Independence days: Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’Atzmaut. more

Dedicated to the memory of the Israeli soldiers whose selfless sacrifice gave and gives us a State we can call our own. more

Any serious student of history will recognize that there are moments, all too rare, when a door stands open, waiting for a person, a people, or even the entire world to walk through, and change life as we know it, forever. more

Walk in to any Jewish home and ask yourself: what distinguishes it as a Jewish home? There is actually no ritual, biblical obligation concerning the Jewish home, save one: the mezuzah. more