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."
Roughly two weeks before the start of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, in front of the General Assembly of the state of Connecticut, pastor Elizur Goodrich offered a comparison between the emerging nation and the ancient Israelite city in his speech “The Principles of Civil Union And Happiness Considered And Recommended.”
Though largely forgotten today, Nathaniel Isaacs, the unlikely Jewish British adventurer, continues to shape how we perceive Africa, a land foreign to our own, one that continues to possess the possibilities of exploration, excitement, and the lure of the unknown.
Might that hot dog you’re chowing down at the stadium actually be a concession to the violent inclinations of mankind?
I’m speaking of the tune-switch that the Friday night hazan pulls for the last few stanzas of “Lecha Dodi.” Where did this quirky cantorial custom come from and how did it become so popular?
In what is surely one of our tradition’s most curious practices, some bake what is called “schlissel challah” the first Sabbath after the Festival of Freedom.
Rubin’s painting emerged from the modern-day exodus of Jews from across the globe to build the new state and their stunning defeat of surrounding Arab armies, the Pharaonic forces of their day.
As recounted in the biography of Chaplain Bohnen written by his son Michael, 750 American soldiers attended the meal celebrating the Festival of Freedom that evening.
As Pesach arrives once more, eyes will inevitably turn to the Haggadah’s centuries-old short prayer known as Shefoch Chamatcha, in which readers call for God to “Pour out Your wrath against the nations who do not know You.”
The development of “Dayenu,” that Haggadah ditty that recaps the many miracles the Israelites experienced throughout the Book of Exodus, has puzzled scholars for generations.
Throughout the pages of “One Little Goat,” Passover’s timeless resonance is powerfully conveyed — after all, we are still fighting the pharaohs of our age.