Current
4 min read
There are two ways to bring light into a dark room. One is to stand in the darkness, point to the light switch and tell someone to turn it on. The other way is to strike your own match. That distinction may capture something profound about Israeli democracy and about the Hebrew language. The Hebrew […]
History
8 min read
In 1492, Spain presented its Jews with a difficult choice: expulsion or conversion to Christianity. Leaving Spain entailed many dangers, from pirates to starvation. Many Spanish Jews chose to remain in Spain, publicly converting to Christianity but secretly remaining faithful to their Jewish heritage. They became known as conversos. However, living as secret Jews in […]
Omer Shem Tov, 23, spent over 16 months in the tunnels of Gaza. For over a year, he’s been sharing his story around the world — how he survived and the choices that sustained him through it all, including 450 days of total isolation, 50 of them in a pitch-dark dungeon where he couldn’t even […]
Here's something you probably won't hear this week: I believe the Jewish people are in a stronger place today than we have been in generations. Three years after the worst day in Jewish life since the Holocaust, that may sound strange, even jarring. But let’s step back from the headlines, look at the whole picture, […]
And other fascinating questions.
