There is no shofar blast. No candle lighting. No sacred text being chanted. And yet, every spring, as the Stanley Cup Playoffs unfold, I find myself watching one of the holiest traditions in modern life: The hockey handshake line. For the uninitiated, here’s what happens: after a grueling playoff series—often a best-of-seven matchup that features fights, slashes, body checks, and goals that break hearts—players from both teams line up at center ice. Helmets off. Gloves off. One by one, … [Read more...]

This summer, Pam and I will travel to Israel with our children—Naama, who is 14, and Leor, who is 11. We’ll visit family, walk the beaches, and inhale the sacred chaos of Jerusalem. But we’ll also go south. We will take them to the edge of Gaza—to Kfar Aza, where entire families were slaughtered in their homes; to the site of the Nova music festival, where young Jews came to dance and were gunned down en masse; and to the car graveyard outside of Rahat, where scorched and bullet-riddled … [Read more...]

On Tuesday night, we will gather to commemorate Yom HaZikaron—Israel’s Memorial Day. It is a day of national grief and sacred remembrance. And in a way that only Jews and Israel can sustain, this day of mourning flows—without pause, without buffer—directly into Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. This is not a coincidence. It is a choice. It is the way we carry our history—pain and pride, tragedy and triumph, intertwined. It is the way we say that the price of freedom will not be … [Read more...]

I was in New York tonight and tomorrow for the AJC Global Summit and decided, albeit reluctantly, to take a field trip. It’s been nearly fourteen years since I walked across the stage at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, diploma in hand—relieved, proud, and exhausted. In May 2011, I closed the chapter on six of the most formative—and at times tumultuous—years of my life. Tonight for the first time since I can remember, I returned. The building itself has changed almost beyond … [Read more...]

October 7, 2023, did not simply mark a tragic day in Jewish history; it also marked the collapse of a long-held illusion. For many American Jews, especially those who found a home in progressive spaces, it was a moment of devastating clarity: the movements that had promised solidarity, inclusion, and justice abandoned them when the test came. The framework of intersectionality — celebrated for its sensitivity to overlapping identities and systemic injustices — proved, at best, indifferent and, … [Read more...]

 The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism, Matthew Continetti undertakes an ambitious and much-needed project: to narrate and analyze the complex, often contradictory evolution of the American conservative movement from the early twentieth century to the present. Drawing on a wealth of political history, journalism, and intellectual biography, Continetti offers a nuanced portrait of a movement marked by internal tensions between populism and elitism, isolationism and … [Read more...]

JCRC Omaha Statement – excellently written by Sharon Brodkey In the swirling debates about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, no tactic has captured attention, controversy, and misunderstanding quite like the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Originating nearly two decades ago, BDS presents itself as a peaceful, moral movement aimed at challenging Israel’s policies toward Palestinians through economic pressure. Yet beneath the surface of noble language and human rights appeals … [Read more...]

On the second night of Passover, we begin to count. One day of the Omer. Then another. And another. Seven weeks, forty-nine days, an ancient ritual that stretches like a thread between two peaks of Jewish experience: the sea and the mountain. Freedom and revelation. Exodus and Sinai. It is a journey that begins with rupture and ends with covenant—but it’s the space in between that contains the deepest work. The Torah tells us to count these days, but it doesn’t say why. It gives no context … [Read more...]

Many diaspora Jews cherish their Jewish identity, yet quietly wonder: is Israel necessary for Jewish survival today? Living in liberal democracies like the United States or the UK—where religious freedom and cultural expression thrive—it’s tempting to see Israel as optional, a beloved heritage site rather than a vital political necessity. I've heard thoughtful congregants say, “Judaism is a religion, not a nationality. Why must we tie our future to a nation-state?” It’s a fair question in … [Read more...]

On Yom HaShoah, we gather not only to remember but to feel. We remember the six million, but more than that, we mourn them. We grieve a world that allowed it to happen, and a people who were left with no power, no voice, and no refuge. The Holocaust defies comprehension, not because it is so far removed, but because it is so achingly close to the heart of every Jew. It lives in our bones, in our language, in the silence between generations. And now, we find ourselves living through another … [Read more...]