The Voice That Calls: Jewish Awakening in Our Time
Imagine being awakened at 4 AM by a voice calling you to something urgent, something that cannot wait for a more convenient hour. This is the essence of selichot – a voice that calls us from the comfortable darkness of spiritual slumber into the demanding light of self-examination and transformation. It is the voice that…
To Occupy or Not To Occupy Gaza
The morning of October 7, 2023, marked a watershed moment in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hamas militants breached the Gaza-Israel…
The Miracle of Persistence: Lessons from a People Who Refuse to Disappear
In an age when entire civilizations have risen and fallen, when empires have crumbled to dust and languages have vanished…
The Modern Erev Rav: When Jewish Identity Becomes a Shield for Betrayal
At a time when Jewish unity, Ahavat Hinam vs. Sin’at Hinam (baseless love vs. baseless hatred), and acceptance of Klal…
Approaching encounters with curiosity and not with judgement
Teens across Israel and in Jewish communities throughout America participate in transformative encounters that shape their Jewish identity, their relationship…
Living a Jewish life includes doing “Jewish things”, infused with purpose, values and memories (i.e. “we were slaves in Egypt” and what that means from a practical and conceptual worldview). Passover, a microcosm of Jewish life, exists within a set of guidelines in preparation for the festival of redemption including the cleaning of Hametz and…
So, a kid comes back from a trip to Israel and is expected to know it all? Be an advocate? How? And why? We have committed such a disservice to our kids, putting them on the frontline to fight for our right to exist, to carry the weight of 2,000 years of exile, when they themselves don’t…
The Abraham Accords have produced a whole new world many of us could have only dreamed of. Indeed, there are political and business benefits that will be gained, but more importantly there is a movement of the people – a social group – with an eye to the future. Individual conversations and group forums have…
Through a talk show style presentation, conference attendees explored how Jewish National Fund has the unique ability to connect American Jews to engage with Israel from a very young age all the way through to their adult years and beyond.
A former New York City club promoter, Rabbi Leor Sinai talks fast and thinks ever faster. His energy is high octane but his wisdom is firmly grounded. His passion for Israel is palpable. And he’s parlayed that passion into his position as the co-CEO of the dynamic and successful Jewish and Israeli educational programs at Alexander…
When I was growing up in New York I had all kinds of neighbors, all kinds of friends. There was my Russian-American friend, my Italian-American, Chinese-American, Polish-American, Irish-American and Afro-American, friends. They knew who they were and from where their ancestors came. So I ask: why are you a Jewish-American? Now please don’t get upset…