Avi Weiss is founding rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, Bronx, NY, and founder and co-founder, respectively, of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and Yeshivat Maharat rabbinical schools. His most recent publication is Loving Torah, a five volume thematic commentary on the Bible.
Hebrew has multiple words referring to different kinds of strength. At this critical juncture, they might give the perspective the president needs
Fifty years ago today, on June 15, 1970, a small group led by Yosef Mendelevich, Mark Dymshits, Eduard Kuznetsov and Sylva Zalmanson attempted to steal a Soviet plane and fly it to freedom in an endeavor known as Operation Wedding. While the operation was foiled by the Soviet KGB secret police, leading to long prison…
News of the largest attack against Jews in the history of America was devastating. 11 people were murdered during Sabbath services at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh. Many rabbinic colleagues and I knew we just had to be there. As soon as we arrived, we made our way to the makeshift memorial in…
It’s been 73 years since the end of the Holocaust. Most survivors are no longer here. My generation, the second generation, is getting older. We are transitioning from short term to long term memory. Indeed, the test of memory is not how we recall soon after an event, but how it is recalled long, long…
Twenty five years ago, on October 29, 1992, Lemrick Nelson Jr. was acquitted of the murder of Yankel Rosenbaum. That event — as well as others that both preceded and followed it — had a significant impact on my life, stirring up a host of personal memories and evoking a chapter in the larger story…
(JTA) — This week, Pope Francis will be making a pilgrimage to Poland, visiting Auschwitz – the notorious death camp in Poland where 1.1 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. Auschwitz is comprised of two camps: Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II, also called Birkenau. Birkenau is the actual “theater of death,” where the vast…
(JTA) — My father died a few weeks ago. The hardest part of the shiva was when it ended. Friends and family were, by and large, no longer visiting. I was alone in pain and agony. I thought of this reality during my visit to the Emanuel AME Church in this city merely two weeks…
Jewish children wave French flags as the interior minister vowed to step up security after the kosher grocery terror attack./Getty Images Je suis Charlie, je suis Juif. That’s why I fly to Paris – to let my fellow and sister Jews know they are not alone, that Jews around the world care deeply about the…
ער פֿלעג זיך צוהערן ווי די מאַמע און באָבע שמועסן אויף ייִדיש און האָט פּשוט נישט באַנומען פֿאַר וואָס ער קען זיי נישט פֿאַרשטיין.
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