In the 1940s, two Israeli pioneers created a new Jewish holiday specifically for agricultural settlers who were bringing the Jewish people back to working the land.
In a forthcoming book, two rabbis address the aspirational ethical treatment of all the inhabitants of the land of Israel as detailed in its Declaration of Independence.
Adonai spoke to Moses, saying: “Go and tell Pharaoh, King of Egypt, to let the Israelites depart from his land.” But Moses appealed to Adonai, saying: “The Israelites would not listen to me;...
As religious Zionists, Israel’s Reform leaders continually reinvent an Israeli Judaism that is authentic, inclusive, and ever-adapting to our evolving religious civilization.
by Marc Rosenstein(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)Now available from URJ Books & MusicOrder Now!...How goodly, goodly are our tents;We will yet return to an...
by Marc Rosenstein(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)One should never occupy oneself with the legends and midrashim relating to the messianic age, and should not...
After repeatedly bouncing off the seemingly impenetrable wall of the arcane, exceedingly accurate and lengthily described laws that open the third book of Torah, Vayikra/Leviticus, it is not...
by Marc Rosenstein(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)Sound the great shofar for our freedom, raise the ensign to gather our exiles, and gather us from the four corners...
by Marc Rosenstein(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)Esther did not reveal her people or her kindred, for Mordecai had told hernot to reveal it.-Esther 2:10 At a recent...
My ideal is Judaism in the fullest historical sense…Will our school provide Judaism or not? The question of the revival of the language is not the main issue, but the question of Judaism. If we put...
We come to our Homeland in order to be planted in our natural soil from which we have been uprooted, to strike our roots deep into its life-giving substances, and to stretch out our branches in the...
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will… be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants...
Lacking the force of law, Israel’s declaration of independence proclaims the moral vision of Israel’s founders. How far has Zionism come in fulfilling its original dream?
by Marc Rosenstein(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)If ...[one was walking] with a barrel ahead of one with a beam, and the barrel is broken by the beam, the one with...
by Marc Rosenstein(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)Rabbi Abba said in the name of Samuel: for three years the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel were in...
A walk in Tel Aviv’s Old Cemetery led me to the tombstone of Ahad Ha’am, one of the most influential pre-state Zionist thinkers and the founder of cultural Zionism.
Do today’s Diaspora Jews see themselves as living in a Diaspora? And if not, how do we define our relationship to the Jewish State and the Zionist enterprise?
The Land of Israel is a ghost throughout the haggadah, even as it is a constant presence in the background of the Passover story. Liberation isn’t solely freedom from Egyptian bondage; it’s also...
by Marc Rosenstein(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)Now available from URJ Books & MusicOrder Now!If you will it, it will not remain a fantasy.-Theodore Herzl,...
by Marc Rosenstein(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)The bare fact...that simple and unsophisticated peoples have unbounded faith in education does not mean that the...
by Marc Rosenstein(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)Now available from URJ Books & MusicOrder Now!"Peace plaza," "Peace market," "Peace square"... are found in...
by Marc Rosenstein(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)Now available from URJ Books & MusicOrder Now!And of Asher he said: Most blessed of sons be Asher, may he be...
This is not a family vacation, it’s not an Israel tour to explore the length and breadth of the country; this time I am returning to Israel as a delegate for the World Zionist Congress.
Arik Einstein, who died last week at the age of 74, basically invented Israeli popular music. He was a unique Israeli combination of Sinatra, Dylan and the Beatles, embodying the spirit and the...
In search of a unique Hanukkah gift for the social justice hero in your life? Look no further than this guide for all your gift-giving needs - with an emphasis on tikkun olam, the repair of our broken world.
Reform Zionism is a continuation of the early Zionist dream to foster a living, breathing national culture that represents the highest ideals of Jewish peoplehood.