Ilan Ramon was the first Israeli astronaut. He was aboard STS-107, the 28th mission of the space shuttle Columbia. Upon re-entry into the atmosphere, Columbia disintegrated and exploded killing all seven crew members on board. Ramon was a great achiever.…
The words “crystal night” may evoke the image of stars twinkling in the clear night sky, but it is nothing of the kind. This week, 83 years ago, the Nazi Party’s paramilitary forces (SA) smashed the windows of synagogues, schools,…
Let me tell you a true story that sends an important message to all of us. Halleli, a 4-year-old girl from Jerusalem with special needs, wanted to celebrate her birthday with her friends from kindergarten. Her loving parents arranged for…
The Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge on the Spanish island of La Palma, part of the Canary Islands, located some 70 miles off the coast of Morocco, in northwest Africa, has been spewing lava since the 19th of September. The eruption…
Lately, headlines have been warning that prices are about to go up. The price of many commodities has already started rising and pundits alert that this is only the beginning. “Unilever warns of more price hikes as inflation worsens,” writes…
Come November, the shopping frenzy starts. Everyone is trying to grab the best deal before everyone else, get the coolest bargain and tell everyone about it. Now that most shopping is done online, it has become a global mania and…
It is not easy to convince the Snapchat generation to read books. To do so, you must be a gifted writer and know which buttons to press in young people’s hearts. Sally Rooney, a young Irish author, is that kind…
In the end, identity politics is just that: politics. It is not real life; it is make-believe. In the end, humanity will reject ideas that do not coincide with nature. It may require a big war, perhaps another virus or…
I spent countless hours conversing with my teacher, Rav Baruch Shalom Ashlag (RABASH). For the most part, we spoke when we were alone during our daily morning walks or during our frequent two-day trips to Tiberias. I once asked him…
We are not even two years into Covid, but it is already clear that the virus is revolutionizing civilization. Things we took for granted until recently, such as work, school, and entertainment, have become debatable on many levels. The virus…
It has been testing times for UK Jewry in the last few years and it appears that their struggles are showing no signs of abating. Temple’s shutdown and a worrying drop in synagogue attendance reflect the growing decline of the…
It seems like a vicious circle: Every time Jews settle somewhere, the local population welcomes them, they prosper there and believe that they have found their “new Jerusalem,” new homeland, but right when they become complacent, their hosts turn against…