Category: Science and Health

The first siren caught me barefoot in Jerusalem, standing in a rented apartment from which I didn’t yet know how to flee. As a trauma psychologist, I arrived in Israel in late May, treating survivors of the brutal Oct. 7, 2023, Nova Music Festival attacks by Hamas, as they came to a retreat center in […]

Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of North America has named two Los Angeles residents to leadership positions in its western and southern regions. Rachel Charnick, a former Jewish Journal reporter who published under the name “Rachel Brand,” has been appointed the managing director of Hadassah West, while Lauren Rothman has been hired as managing director […]

A lachrymose river runs, like the Tigris, through Samantha Ellis’s new book “Chopping Onions on My Heart: On Losing and Preserving Culture.” In almost every chapter, Ellis mourns the loss of yet another aspect of Iraqi Jewish culture, chief among them, the Judeo-Iraqi Arabic language, but also the nabug fruit, and the ability to fit […]

Since Oct. 7, 2023 my early morning routine has looked like this: reciting Modei Ani, the traditional prayer Jews say when they first wake up, and then hopping on my cell phone to scan what I had missed over the past six hours. All of us have become way too accustomed to being greeted daily with […]

According to Israeli news media, over 100,000 Israeli citizens have been stuck in the U.S. and around the world since the war against Iran began. The Israel Airport Authority (IAA) emphasized that “even when the Defense Department allows the resumption of flights, the flight frequency will be limited in order to minimize risks and ensure […]

Now that Israel and Iran are finally at war, let us hope that we are witnessing the final days of the medieval mullahs and ayatollahs—along with their barbaric henchmen—who have brutalized the women, homosexuals and dissident students of Iran since the very first days of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Before they targeted their own […]

At least three Israels were killed last night and several others seriously injured as Iran launched a series of retaliatory strikes on Israel. The strikes follow Israel’s launch of a preemptive operation against Iran on Thursday night, which is still ongoing, aimed at preventing the Islamic regime from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran initially responded […]

From its very birth 77 years ago, when five Arab armies brought a welcome wagon hoping to drive their new Jewish neighbors into the sea, Israel has been walking on eggshells, never knowing when one or more of its enemies would strike. It’s not as if those eggshells got in the way of a full-on […]

Recently, I made a video articulating a long-held personal belief—that Jews with CCWs, like myself, should be able to carry our guns into houses of worship and at Jewish events. The reason is basic; when I speak at events, there is usually armed security inside the venue. But outside the venue, when I am leaving […]

Sometimes we just have to let our great thinkers do the talking. Sometimes we just need to read, hear and listen to their words. So this week I present Rabbi Uziel – Israel’s first Sephardic Chief Rabbi, an outstanding leader, halakhic scholar and philosopher, and my personal rabbinic role model – in his own words. […]