Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern is Associate Provost for Strategic Initiatives at Yeshiva University and Deputy Director of Y.U.’s Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought. His books include the newly released "Jewish Roots of American Liberty," "The Promise of Liberty: A Passover Haggada," "Esther in America," "Gleanings: Reflections on Ruth" and "Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land: The Hebrew Bible in the United States."
Pete Seeger, a brilliant lyricist, based the song “Turn! Turn! Turn!” on one of the Bible’s books of wisdom, Ecclesiastes, which was just read in synagogues across the globe over the Shabbat of Sukkot.
To Rabbi Eleazar ben Judah of Worms (1176-1238), the medieval German pietist known as the Rokeach, the sukkah symbolized Jewish military might.
When Jonah makes his appearance on the holiest day of the year, he is meant to remind Jews across the globe of the remarkable grace of repentance.
As Israel stands on the cusp of an election and the U.S. enacts economic sanctions against Iran after military strikes failed to achieve a definitive victory, a newly released book serves as a must-read to understand the current moment.
Moses’ speech was addressed to people standing on the threshold of a new chapter. The American story is similarly turning a new page.
The Continental Union Flag deserves to be remembered as a window into the political process of independence, as in the time of biblical Israel.
The scholar’s earlier affinity for the Jewish state is worth revisiting and appreciating, reminding us in this moment of uncertainty that more positive possibilities could very well emerge between two nations, a friendship as existed decades ago, renewed.
During World War II, his reach was breathtaking and he sought to stem the tide of Hitler’s march of death and settled in America for good.
In this enriching new edition of the classic code of Jewish law, readers can delve deeply into the mind of Maimonides, from his analysis of the commandments to the controversies that have accompanied his writings, offering a window into the wisdom of one of our tradition’s preeminent thinkers.
