Emma Lazarus
Emma Lazarus' poem, "The New Colossus," affixed to the base of the Statue of Liberty in 1903 (twenty-five years after her death), identifies this icon as the "Mother of Exiles." It took time for Lady Liberty to grow into this role.
Kabbalah: A Love Story
When is a predictable love story more than a predictable love story? When a teacher of mysticism like Rabbi Lawrence Kushner uses it as a parable.
The Weapon Wizards: How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower
From drones to satellites, missile defense systems to cyber warfare, Israel leads the world in the development of high-tech weaponry, a legacy born of necessity. Since 1948, this country of eight million people has had to learn to adapt to changes in warfare and, in the process, has become a military superpower in innovation and efficiency.
The Weight of Ink
“Never underestimate the passion of a lonely mind,” Helen Watt, a British expert in Jewish history, tells her research assistant, post-graduate student Aaron Levy
Catch-67: The Left, the Right, and the Legacy of The Six Day War
Micah Goodman has been called “Israel’s philosopher” and “a prophet of the nation’s angst.”
Menasseh ben Israel: Rabbi of Amsterdam
Manoel Dias Soeiro was born in Lisbon in 1604 into an outwardly Roman Catholic family that had been forced by the Inquisition to abandon its Jewish faith and practices
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah - Vayeishev: Making an Impact
Many of us know the story of Jacob and Esau, the brothers who could not be more different from one another.
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah - Tzav: How to Be a Leader
Parashat Tzav opens with a command to Aaron, the high priest. It’s a moment to think about leadership – who are our leaders and what do they do? Are our leaders born into the role, like Aaron, or are they called to leadership, like Moses?
On the Other Hand: Ten Minutes of Torah - Pesach: Why is This Passover Different from Other Passovers?
In this special Passover episode of On the Other Hand, Rabbi Jacobs discusses empathy. The story of Passover asks that we put ourselves in the shoes of those who escaped slavery and travelled to freedom, and that we think about what it’s like to have nothing.