Category: Science and Health

In April 1948, on the last Passover before Israel declared her independence just a few weeks later, Rabbi Uziel extended an olive branch to the Muslim world: “I reach out to our Arab neighbors in peace, for our sole desire is to live together with you in this Holy Land that is sacred to all […]

Reuven Rubin’s 1950 painting “First Seder in Jerusalem” at first glance seems like a simple but moving representation of a diverse group of Jews at a Passover table. There are secular-looking kibbutzniks, a Hasidic rabbi, two IDF-uniform wearing soldiers, immigrants from Africa, and a young Haredi boy with sidelocks. But at second glance, one notices […]

Where are the old Yiddish-accented men when you need someone to cry, “volf”? That’s what these calamitous times demand, even if no one will listen. Jews living in Europe, Canada and Australia, and most assuredly South Africa, must have given serious consideration to leaving their homes and emigrating to Israel, for good. Antisemitism in the […]

It’s rare for Passover to start on a Saturday night. But it does present an opportunity to reflect on two epic events of the Jewish calendar. The first is the Passover Seder itself, arguably one of the most popular holidays of our tradition. How can one go wrong with the celebration of freedom, with the […]

On a quiet evening in April 2008, just days before the critical Pennsylvania primary, three junior staff members on then-Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign were feeling homesick. It was the first night of Passover, and Arun Chaudhary, Eric Lesser and Herbie Ziskend were missing their own family Seders that evening. Determined to celebrate, the three […]

Voltaire famously stated that we are responsible for all the good we did not do. The great Enlightenment thinker understood that not doing bad is not enough for a stable and healthy society. A society at peace with itself must be one in which citizens are actively engaged in doing good. This need is present […]

Attempting to fuse Jewish and Black culinary traditions, a menu at a recent community seder included za’atar-seasoned salmon, parsnip-and-potato kugel, brussels sprouts and carrots dressed in tahini and, for dessert, a challah bread pudding. It was the inaugural “Soulful Seder,” organized by Challah and Soul co-founders Shonda Walkowitz and Judi Leib. Conceived in 2021 as […]

Reader: On the last day of Passover the rabbis teach we journeyed through the Sea of Reeds, we walked on dry land as the waters of the sea turned back upon Pharaoh and 600 of his “elite chariots … with officers on them all.” (Exodus 14:7) We withhold our joy in celebrating the death of […]

There’s a familiar story our society tells itself about the history of religion. It goes like this: Since the dawn of time, humans have held superstitious beliefs about a divine creator or a pantheon of gods who created and ruled the universe. These beliefs went mostly unchallenged for millennia, until just a few centuries ago […]

After the Seder, sometime around midnightwhen everyone has said the grace after meals, the singing begins. People break out tunes like, “Echad Mi Yodea (Who Knows One)” and “Let My People Go.” For years, comedian Daniel Lobell has sung a bluesy version of the song, “Chad Gadya,” about a kid goat who gets eaten by […]