Humans of Israel: My Uncle Isaac
April 20, 2023
As I sat in the plane on my way to Israel, I reflected on the 43-year relationship I had with my father’s youngest brother.
Rabbi Daniel Bouskila
Mimouna: In My Mind I’ve Gone to Marrakech
April 11, 2023
For North African Jews, it’s a night when we turn over our homes from Passover to Mimouna, a joyous family and community-oriented cultural celebration that’s all about blessings, smiles and sweets.
Passover in Auschwitz, 1943: When Ashkenazi Jews Used a Sephardic Haggadah
March 30, 2023
Kotlianski’s story begins a few days before Passover, on Shabbat HaGadol, the Shabbat immediately preceding Passover.
Not Really Sephardic: Why Has Extremism Hijacked My Heritage?
March 15, 2023
As a Sephardic Jew who was raised with the classic Sephardic principles of tolerance, respect and religious moderation, I lament the contemporary absence of these values in today’s Sephardic rabbinic leaders, especially in Israel.
From West Hollywood to Yeshiva University: A Sephardic Jew’s Journey in the World of the Holocaust
March 2, 2023
I always wanted to explore the Holocaust on a deeper level.
The First and Lesser-Known Holocaust Remembrance Day was Declared on December 14, 1948
January 8, 2023
Three years before the advent of Yom Hashoah, another day was designated to recite Kaddish for the victims of the Holocaust.
Agnon’s Great American Story
November 23, 2022
As a man of letters, Agnon showed deep appreciation for America’s marketplace of ideas and viewpoints.
A Rosh Hashanah Like No Other: How Agnon Brings Us All Together in His “Days of Awe”
September 22, 2022
It was a Rosh Hashanah like no other. It was the Rosh Hashanah when I felt as if I held a “Book of Life” in my hands. On that day, for the very first time, I opened S.Y. Agnon’s beautiful High Holy Days book “Yamim Noraim — Days of Awe.”
My Last Cup of Coffee with A.B. Yehoshua
June 14, 2022
When we sat down for that cup of coffee (or two, or three…), he asked me to recount our previous meetings. For me, those meetings were almost a mirror image of the various issues that came to define his life as a brilliant literary figure and outspoken public intellectual.
Salonika, 1533: The Most Famous Tikkun Leil Shavuot
June 3, 2022
The illustrious world of Kabbalah and Mysticism as we know it was born on Shavuot in Salonika in 1533, courtesy of two outstanding Sephardic scholars.
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