When Plagues Divide: Pedut and the Misreading of Jewish Difference
In the story of the plagues, there is a key turning point that is easy to miss. In the first three plagues, Israel and Egypt face the same outcomes. […]
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“A New King Who Did Not Know Joseph”: Exodus 1 as the First Antisemitism
Exodus starts with a disturbingly familiar story. Before any plagues or miracles happen, and before Moshe even appears, the Torah depicts a powerful society that turns on a small […]
Mixed Blessings: What Jacob Really Gives His Sons
Jacob’s final words to his sons in Parashat Vayechi are called “blessings,” yet many of them sound painfully like rebuke, even curse. This tension encourages a deeper examination of […]
May a Jew be buried in a non-Jewish cemetery?
Question: For decades, I have put a lot of thought, energy, and financial commitment into environmental sustainability. Cemeteries, with their pristine, well-watered, always raked lawns, rub me the wrong way. […]
Three Visions, One Promise: Jacob’s Lifelong Conversation with God
In this week’s Parasha, Vayigash, we learn about Jacob’s final journey: to Egypt. This journey doesn’t start in Egypt but in the dark, sacred pause just before it. In Genesis […]
Miketz and Hanukkah: Hidden Light, Revealed Hope
Parashat Miketz almost always coincides with Hanukkah, and that “almost always” is itself a kind of commentary. It prompts the question: what happens when the Torah’s story of Yosef […]
Why do Jews play dreidel on Hanukkah?
The dreidel’s story is a great example of how Jews take something from the surrounding culture and spin it into something deeply Jewish. Historically, the dreidel began as a […]
From Bondi Beach to the Menorah: Hanukkah, Antisemitism, and the Fight Against Assimilation
On the first night of Hanukkah this year, as Jews gathered to kindle lights on Bondi Beach in Sydney, gunmen opened fire and turned a public celebration of Jewish […]
What is so special about December 4th or 5th?
The Jewish calendar is packed with holidays, and while the secular dates for these holidays may shift from year to year, the Hebrew dates stay the same annually. Pesach starts […]
Dear Jonah Platt
Dear Jonah Platt. Last night, I had a lot of trouble sleeping—and it’s all because of you! More on that in a moment. First, I want to sincerely thank you […]