Related Blog Posts on Holocaust, Israel, Israeli History, and Jewish History

The Ethical Conundrum of a Jewish and Democratic State

Rabbi David Ellenson
When the State of Israel was established in 1948, its secular founders envisioned a nation that would be both Jewish and attuned to the values of liberal democracy. They were confident that a country with an overwhelming Jewish majority could maintain a Jewish character and ensure civic equality for all its inhabitants.

Final Account: Film Review

Wes Hopper
The film, produced by the USC Shoah Foundation, attempts to capture the recollections of an elderly subset of Germans who lived through the Third Reich and will soon no longer be around to give voice to what they witnessed.

Guide to the Complex

Rabbi Josh Weinberg
Much of the rhetoric coming out of an American understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian interrelationship seriously lacks nuance. Nuance is cavalierly sacrificed on the altar of the soundbite and the hashtag. Those who preach liberal politics and tolerance based on their American experience seem unwilling to understand the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  

We Hold All of these Truths

Rabbi Rick Jacobs
The current wave of violence in Israel and Gaza is a heartbreaking human tragedy. The loss of innocent life (including that of children) rends the heart, destruction of homes and endemic fear defy the peace and security in which every human being deserves to live.

To Life: An Israeli Wedding Story

Rabbi Galit Cohen-Kedem
Shira and Ron, two young industrial engineers, approached me this past March, when Israel took its first steps out of the pandemic.