My recent post about Israeli secularists being urged to play Monopoly and watch video in order to make their Yom Kippur fasting more tolerable created some interesting discussion. In connection with that, I just...

Very, very few Jews understand the significance of Nostra Aetate, the Vatican II document whose fortieth anniversary passed last month. This is a pity, because even the most cautious and the most cynical should...

Recently, I’ve been in an ongoing dialogue with a committed Jewish layman affiliated with the Conservative movement. He and I have argued on any number of occasions, and some might be very surprised to...

Americans mark the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln every year on Presidents Day; Israelis mark the death of Prime Minister Rabin. The difference is telling. Presidents Day celebrates the lives of the...

There is a potential for conflict in all social relations, and it exists not because people are selfish or foolish or have other shortcomings — although these are factors — but because it is...

Readers who did not follow the story to the end of the New York Times article may have missed the more interesting piece of evidence unearthed after two millennia of repose. The uncovering at...

Tortured women in the Bible, tortured readings of the Bible text, my my. I was asked a question about Hagar a few weeks ago, and since Hagar is first mentioned in this week’s parsha...

(In line with the suggestion made by one of its readers, I am posting the following from the RJJ Newsletter just out. ) There is at long last heightened awareness of the tuition crises...

The first thing that struck me on my first visit to the new exhibition hall at Yad Vashem, Israel’s major Holocaust museum, was the group of older people in front of me entering the...