I couldn’t believe it. One of my trusted old reference books failed me for the first time. I am an old-fashioned guy and I still use books for reference rather than resorting to the … more

My wife’s maternal grandmother was a wise old woman, raised in the Old City of Jerusalem where she accumulated wisdom from her Yiddish-speaking family and the diverse Jerusalemites who … more

I was embarrassed by her sharp rebuke. But looking back, I realize the lesson I learned from her brief criticism was more valuable than most of my other training experiences. It happened about … more

t should have been one of the most powerful and exciting days of my life; I can still see all the guys, in their dress uniforms, preparing for the final ceremony; instead, it was one of the most depressing. more

It was the first time, as an officer, that I came under fire. Well, sort of. We were stationed on the edge of the Bekaa valley, in Lebanon, and intelligence had information that terrorists might try … more

This week one of modern Israel’s greatest war heroes, Yanosh ben Gal, was laid to rest in the military cemetery in Givat Shaul. To honor his memory, this story is excerpted from a 2011 … more

Were the forefathers Jewish? Leaving aside the anachronistic usage of the term “Jew,” there are those who argue that while the forefathers were monotheists, calling them … more

Sometimes inspiration comes in the simplest of moments, like a good cup of coffee. In the fall of 2000, my unit was called up on special emergency orders (known as a Tzav Shmoneh). I still recall the … more

In Shoftim, Moses speaks about the great institutions of Judaism: courts, judges, officers, kings, priests, Levites and prophets. In the case of the prophet, Moses says in the name of G-d: I … more

The penultimate verses of Parashat Bereishit present us with dire foreboding: And the L-rd saw that the evil of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of his heart was only evil all … more