Israelis celebrated Tu B’Av on Monday, a holiday marked by couples exchanging gifts and heartfelt expressions of love, much like Valentine’s Day in other parts of the world.  … more

We must distinguish between legitimate anger towards those who threaten our existence (Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and so on) and unwarranted hatred — sinat chinam — directed at fellow Jews … more

J uly 4th is a national holiday which deserves to be celebrated by all Americans. The bottom line is that July 4, 1776 began the daring experiment which led to the formation of the greatest nation in … more

M any of us tend to forget the origin of July 4, but not I! Fifty years ago, this Shet land Islands native became a proud new American citizen after studying the fundamentals of US history and the … more

As we prepare for the upcoming holiday of Shavuot, I can’t help but think that we are at another holiday without our brothers and sisters home. The hostages remain in my thoughts each and every … more

Shavuot, which begins at sundown on Tuesday, June 11, is rooted (like Pesach) in the agricultural season (originally, the beginning of the wheat harvest). Before the fall of the Temple, … more

Shavuot is one of my favorite holidays. Yes, it is an excuse for making cheesecake and blintzes and my kids favorite mac and cheese, but it is also a day to reflect on Judaism and what receiving the … more

Just as many have asked, “Where were America’ s Jews in the 1930s and during the Shoah ?, ” our grand-children will ask, “Where were you after Oct. 7?” That’s … more

Riverdale remembered the Holocaust the way Jews commemorate so much: through ritual. The device created for this by Rabbi Avi Weiss at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale was a Yom HaShoah Seder. … more