Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern is Senior Adviser to the Provost of 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."
Like Israel’s Festival of Freedom, a holiday celebrated for generations in anticipation of an even greater future redemption, America’s Independence Day would point the way toward a brighter future.
Though she was not a general, parliamentarian or even soldier, her heroic actions have echoed for generations.
As Jews continue to navigate antisemitism from Hollywood to the Holy Land, we can draw inspiration from a very different Jewish founder, the biblical figure of Ruth, whose story we just read on the holiday of Shavuot.
As Jerusalem Day is celebrated this year, beginning Tuesday evening June 4, Rabbi Goren’s words then are worth revisiting now.
Amidst the cacophonous chants of “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free” and “Intifada Revolution” there remains, somehow, a controversy over the intent of these slogans.
First he lived biblically, now he’s living like it’s 1787.
It feels like we’ve been counting the Omer for around seven months now.
Commentators have found the most Jewish of ways to understand the origin of this perceived greatness – by arguing about what exactly it means.
Venice, thankfully, no longer is Shylocking its Jews, forcing the Jewish people to apologize for their self-defense.
