Walk into any Jewish home and ask yourself: What distinguishes it as a Jewish home? There is actually no ritual, biblical obligation concerning the Jewish home, save one: the mezuzah. One would expect to find this symbol, therefore, in the center of our homes, the living room or dining room. Yet we place our mezuzah in the doorway at the entrance to the home, a place we only pass through, never really stopping to focus on much of anything. more

Holocaust survivor Marlit Wendel shared her incredible story with my students … more

None of us remembers exactly what it was we were supposed to have done, and what it was that had so enraged them, but our sergeants were on the warpath and it was clearly … more

There is a little known test that officer cadets undergo in one form or another during Infantry Officer’s training that they almost always fail, which is precisely the point. It takes many … more

It is hard to imagine, looking down at the windswept desert floor far below, what it must have been like 2000 years ago, to be a Jewish rebel soldier atop the isolated fortress of Masada. What kept you going, as you gazed down at the might of three Roman Legions, bent on your destruction? more

There is an oft repeated quote, attributed to Albert Einstein: “The definition of insanity is to perform the same experiment over and over again, expecting different results” more

Many years ago, while teaching an adult education class, the topic we were studying was pushing someone’s buttons. We were discussing the underpinnings of the mitzvah of respect for one’s … more

Contrary to popular myth, there is no better or worse way to lose someone close to you, but there is definitely a worst way to find out about it. It had been a long day, and I was finally taking a … more

I hadn’t planned on stopping to watch, but something about him caught my attention. It was Tisha B’Av, the anniversary of the day our Temples were destroyed, the city of … more

Years ago, I had the opportunity to take a long-overdue vacation with my family in Walt Disney World. For our children, who had just spent the better part of a year dealing with the day-to-day … more