One of the great satisfactions of life as an educator is watching a student’s face when “the penny drops,” when a difficulty or question they have struggled with suddenly is resolved. Equally … more

Sefer Bereishit is all about our role models: Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, Leah and more. We learn from them our most basic values: Loving kindness and justice, truth and … more

At the end of every command-course in the Israeli army, a questionnaire known as a Sociometric test is given to each cadet. It’s a pretty simple form: each soldier is asked to list five … more

It was the loneliest, most depressing night of my life. After almost a year of training, with only a couple of days to go before getting my bars and finishing officer’s course, I had been ordered … more

A number of years ago, I struck up a friendship over Pesach with a Holocaust survivor, a former inmate of the Janowska work camp and Auschwitz. Towards the end … more

It was a nasty time in a nasty place: Ramallah, 1988, at Mutzav Sivan, next to the Arab “refugee” camps of Al Bireh and Al Amari during the first intifada. After a week of intense … more

In July 2018, 12 boys, aged 11 to 16, were discovered and rescued with their 25-year-old soccer coach from a cave in Tham Luang, Thailand. They had entered the cave as part of a field trip but … more

There is a mystical idea which suggests that hidden within every fire of destruction is the spark of redemption. Such, for example, was the case on Aug. 3, 1492, which was also the Ninth of Av, … more

It’s been almost 20 years, and every so often I still pause to think about how different it could have been. Just a few months ago we merited to walk our second child, our oldest son … more

Do we really appreciate all the gifts we have, and how blessed we are even with all the challenges life gives us? Eighteen years ago this Shabbat (20 Av 5761, Aug. 9, 2001), an Arab terrorist … more