Today is not only April 20, 2010, it is also the 5th of Iyar 5770, which means that according to the Hebrew calendar it is also Yom Ha’atzmaut – Israel Independence Day. I will share my own reasons for celebrating with deep pride and great joy, the highly imperfect but truly magnificent State of Israel,…

Today is Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day. The following story of a mother, Miriam Peretz, who has lost two sons, is a powerful one for many reasons. I am less certain about the words of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Speaking at the official ceremony on Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl – the Israeli version of Arlington…

The Shabbat after Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) is always a little bitter-sweet for me. The move from profound tragedy to a taste of the World To Come, as Shabbat is sometimes called is not so simple. How do we let go of the pain without letting go of the sensitivity and awareness it creates?…

The Case of little Ela Reyes raises many thorny contemporary issues about church/state entanglement, parenting in a multicultural world, and the challenge of real religious pluralism. Ela’s parents, Rebecca Reyes (born Jewish) and her now ex-husband Joseph Reyes (raised Catholic, converted to Judaism, and now returning to the Church) found themselves in court over the…

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