ARZA

By Rabbi Bennett Miller We are in the midst of one of the most powerful episodes in the Torah. The narrative reveals a continuation of the story of Joseph, his brothers, Egypt, and Jacob’s entire family. Few Biblical events have been told with greater human drama.

Shabbat Shalom to all, This evening the bombing found me in Tel Aviv in Beit Daniel. As I was carrying on with my work and talking to people in the office, we heard a siren. You could see on everyone’s faces that no one knew if to take is seriously or not. After a few [...]

How can one best participate in building the State of Israel? In the long history of the Jewish people, this is a very new question. The question of what is the best way to build or protect Israel has been, and continues to be, at the center of many debates. These debates were present in [...]

Long before Israel gained independence, the city of Jaffa was a bustling port. Today, it swarms with multi-national populations, whose tenuous coexistence is constantly on the brink of conflict. The ones who suffer most from this situation are the weaker populations – the children, the youth and the elderly. The participants in the IMPJ pre-army [...]

Actions have consequences. That is the message of Ekev. It is the message each time we recite the full Shema. On the positive side, we read: “If you will obey the commandments that I enjoin you today, loving the lord your God and serving God with all your heart and soul. I will grant the [...]

By Adam Ross He was waiting for one of his commanders to pick him up. I was waiting to go to sleep. Yet another 3 hour shift of guard duty, but this time I was assigned to the back entrance to the base, which leads to the firing ranges. I don’t mind that spot so [...]

Haggai. I danced at his wedding in the fall of 1971. He was a proud member of the IDF Tank Corps. The wedding was at Kibbutz Na’an not far from Rehovot. My first Israeli wedding. We laughed and danced. He embraced me into the “kibbutz family” into which my sister would marry in February. On [...]

By Adam Ross When the Israeli Supreme Court recently announced that the government should not renew the “Tal” Law, which exempts Ultra-Orthodox young men from serving in the Army, I heard a lot of support among many of my friends, both soldiers and civilians, for the decision and rightfully so. Why should part of the [...]