Bulletin Released on February 22, 2024 This week marks the International Day of Social Justice, which gives us an opportunity to reflect on the reality in which we live in, and our place within it. One of the most prominent tensions in Judaism in the post-modern era is the tension between the community (the collective) […]
On February 24, 2022, the lives of many people in Ukraine changed beyond recognition. Plans and dreams were shattered in an instant. Loss, destruction, terror, and uncertainty burst into people’s lives. I, like many of my friends, will never forget that day. That year in March we celebrated Purim together in Czernowitz, which is where […]
BACKGROUND – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS – STORIES – PHOTOS IN THE NEWS See our “Dispelling Falsehoods, Stating Facts” section to help address difficult questions about the conflict. The murderous 10/7 terrorist attack was executed with ruthless precision, designed to maximize casualties, kidnap civilians – including children – and instill fear in the Israeli population. […]
The Ark of the Covenant (aron ha-‘edut) is the first item on the list of furnishings that the Israelites were commanded to construct in preparation for setting up the Tabernacle (mishkan). The task of that piece of furniture is to store and safeguard the sign of the covenant between the Eternal and His people. Some […]
… Anti-Jewish Attacks Masked as Anti-Zionism Spread Worldwide BACKGROUND – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS – VOICES – STORIES – PHOTOS IN THE NEWS See our expanded “Dispelling Falsehoods, Stating Facts” section to help address difficult questions about the conflict Relieved Israelis applauded the safe return of two Israeli civilians in a heroic commando rescue […]
by Rabbi Alan Silverstein, PhD What, according to international law, is “occupation”? Land acquired as the result of an unjust warfare — a war of aggression — is characterized as “occupied territory.” This has been the case in China’s conquest and continued occupation of Tibet since 1950, Turkey’s conquest and occupation of one third of Cyprus since the early 1970s, and […]
Among the fifty-three mitzvot in Parashat Mishpatim, two stand out: returning a lost animal and helping load and unload the burden on a beast. Two mitzvot that require us to help others. Who are those others whom we are bidden to help? The Torah’s language is very clear: “Should you encounter your enemy’s ox or […]
BACKGROUND – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS TO CONSIDER – VOICES – STORIES MAKING NEWS Pro-Palestinian and even pro-Hamas marches on university campuses and new reports of students harassing Jewish students at K-12 schools across the country are increasing at an alarming rate. The ADL has registered hundreds of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel attacks in public and […]
by Rabbi Alan Silverstein, PhD Thirty years ago, in his book “A Place Among the Nations,” Bibi Netanyahu observed that even beyond its army, its technological advances, and its service to global humanitarian causes, “Israel’s great shield … was its moral stature.” Natan Sharansky noted that Israel’s enemies have sought to erode its moral stature […]
BACKGROUND – TALKING POINTS – ACTIONS – VOICES – STORIES – PHOTOS IN THE NEWS The United Nations has a decades-long track record of bashing Israel and using the Jewish state as the scapegoat for the world’s problems. Recent headlines: UN Palestinian employees were among the terrorists during the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks The U.S., […]