the path that we now follow / is the Exodus our ancestors never chose / flooding with pain they died not to swallow / the past spills into the river and flows

Counting is never more important than between Passover and Shavuot; we call this ritual counting the Omer. Each day we recite a blessing marking that this period of time is meant to be one time of reflection, revelation, and change.

The Tanach is our owner’s manual. If we want to operate this complex thing we call Jewish identity, it’s probably worth reading the instruction book. Are we doing enough to engage on a daily basis with our ancient sources?

The fact that in every generation some individuals and groups rise to try and destroy us, as we sing, does not give us carte blanche permission and justification to act brutally ourselves – as every Israeli soldier knows.

With just a few days left until Israel’s fourth general election in two years, we might ask: Is there a clever coalition calculus that will allow for regime change? Is there a way to avoid sinking into a repetitive Groundhog Day-esque cycle of do-over elections?

As Israeli citizens living abroad, we may now return to exercise our right and responsibility to vote in upcoming elections. Absentee ballots aren't available to us, though, so we had to return- though the logistics require persistence and patience.

In his pamphlet Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), Theodor Herzl outlined his plan for the Jewish statehood in great detail. Its publication catapulted Zionism into the world arena of Realpolitik.

The Jewish people have been welcoming people in for thousands of years, and this ruling takes a tremendous step forward in proving that Israel is the Jewish State for all Jews.

This year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly all schools in Israel have been closed for most of the year, leaving students stuck at home and trying to complete their studies remotely. All of them are hurting – emotionally and socially.