I spent a memorable day in the Golan Heights with my friend Gabriel (Gabe) Bass who lives in the village of Yonaton. We started the morning dropping off his daughter,…

The Tel Aviv Musuem of Art is featuring four women artists, including two Palestinian Arabs from Umm al-Fahm.  The exhibition that hit me was Ruth Patir’s (M)otherland.  Patir is an…

The first week of my planned Rabbinic Torah Seminar (RTS) at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem was cancelled due to the war with Iran.  After making plans to visit…

The new National Library of Israel (opened 2023) is an architectural masterpiece, a fitting tribute to a people of the book.  Its architecture references a variety of Jewish textual traditions…

On my last two trips to Israel, I had the delightful surprise of meeting friends at Logan Airport travelling to Israel on the same flight as me: Marc Andler, Amy…

While I have come to Israel to study Torah, as I did in July 2024, the learning experiences are quite different. Last summer at the Hartman Institute the learning was…

Wednesday, July 17 – Hartman Day 8 You may have read on July 22 that leading Religious Zionist rabbis opposed a deal to free the remaining hostages.  At the same…

Tuesday, July 16 – Hartman Day 7 Part 1 – In the City of Slaughter Our visit to Kibbutz Nir Oz which was invaded on October 7 reminded me of…

Hope – Monday, July 15 – Hartman Day 6 Micah Goodman lectured this morning.  He shared the argument of his new book, “Hayom Hashmini” (“The Eighth Day”).  You can hear…

Standing in the Breach: Preaching During Crisis – Sunday, July 14 – Hartman Day 5 The typical day at Hartman begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 9:00 p.m.  It…