A young man walks into the Barsheshet & Ribak shofar factory in Tel Aviv a few weeks before Rosh Hashana. It’s nearly five o’clock and the workshop is closing soon, but Eli … more

A week before Passover, I got a call from a rabbi in Miami asking me to hurry to Boston’s Children’s Hospital to pray for a newborn baby scheduled for high-risk surgery. The … more

In the long list of the most hellish places, Russia’s penal colonies are close to the top. In an interview last year with the Associated Press, Olga Romanova, head of a prisoner-rights … more

There has always been a tension at the core of the concept of Yeshiva College. A Yeshiva is an institution committed to the yoke of heaven and to the observance of the Torah’s commandments, … more

That Queen Elizabeth II was both Britain’s longest-serving and oldest monarch is a testament to the period of history in which she lived, and upon which she left an indelible … more

Sunday marked the twenty-first anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The magnitude of the audacious assault on key symbols of American greatness and power … more

Our parasha, Ki Tavo, contains a statement that poses a distinct exegetical challenge: “This day (hayom hazeh), Hashem, your G-d, is commanding you to fulfill these statutes (chukim) and … more

The word “loser” is a nasty epithet in a culture that honors winners. And America loves winners. General George S. Patton once said in a rousing speech to the troops, “Americans … more

We all have our secret lives. I don’t mean to say that each of us has a sinister side, which we wickedly act out in some deep, dark, private world. What I do mean is that we all act … more

Happiness, said Aristotle, is the ultimate good at which all humans aim. But in Judaism it is not necessarily so. Happiness is a high value. Ashrei, the closest Hebrew word to happiness, is … more