What parents can learn about being parents from the Pesach seder
The story of the leaving of Egypt may very well be one of the greatest stories ever lived and ever told in the history of humans on this planet. It’s a story of a people redeemed from hundreds of years...
View ArticleSarona is a Symbol
Sarona Market, the site of the bloody jihad-inspired massacre last night in Tel Aviv, is a symbol. It’s a symbol of the normal life that Israelis want for themselves and have been yearning for since...
View ArticleMy Blessing for the World: The Time It Has Come (A Musical Blog)
The time has come for a better world. A much better world. The better world we as Jews have dreamed about for millennia. A better world for the entire world. The time it has come. Have a listen....
View ArticleAdam and Eve were vegan (and a whole bunch of Israelis are too)
When I heard I wasn’t surprised. I was elated and excited and also proud. But surprised? No. The fact that, per capita, Israel has more vegans than any other country in the world (4 percent of the...
View ArticleMy Two Cents about the Black Lives Matter Platform
So I (finally) took a look at the Black Lives Matter platform that they recently released and shared with the world. My first reaction is that it is an impressive document of incredible length, depth...
View ArticleIsrael through the eyes of an oleh
I love making aliyah. I say “making” and not “made” because I believe that aliyah is not a static one-time event that begins and ends when our plane lands in Israel and, for the first time, we don’t...
View ArticleI don’t care if Trump is better for Israel (and I’m not convinced he is)
I’ll say straight up that I support Israeli settlements. I like Israeli settlements. I like the idea of Jews living on the same land as our ancient ancestors, on the true “Bible Belt” of the land of...
View ArticleDear Linda Sarsour: Feminism and Zionism go hand in hand
Linda, when you mentioned your “Palestinian grandmother who lives in occupied territory” during your speech at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., I was upset. It felt to me that you were using that...
View ArticleBecoming Israeli
Before making aliyah, living in Israel seemed to me to be an almost exclusively spiritual act. During my pre-aliyah visits, I spent the majority of my time in Jerusalem and Tzfat, studying Torah and...
View ArticleMaking aliyah was euphoric
When I made aliyah, it was euphoric. I had brought my acoustic guitar on the plane with me to make sure it didn’t get damaged with the cargo. As my wife, Tamar, and I were beginning to descend the...
View ArticleBeing Israeli in America
I just spent seven weeks traveling with my family in the old country. The place that birthed me, raised me, nurtured me. That shaped my thinking and my being for the first 28 years of my life. A place...
View ArticleRosh Hashanah Reminds Me of the Universal Message of Judaism
Growing up as a barely-connected Jew in America, I saw Judaism as a self-serving, self-centered, ghetto-based religion and culture that cares not about the world around it, but rather on the...
View ArticleMy prayer for the New Year (FYI… it’s a song)
Sometimes we don’t want to write…we just want to sing… Because what we want to say comes from such a deep place inside of us that only through song can it truly be communicated… And only through song...
View ArticleWhat if “vegan” was pronounced “wejan”?
I know it sounds like an utterly ridiculous question, but allow me to explain. I personally chose a vegan lifestyle back in 1995, when I was 19 years old and feeling right at home in my...
View ArticleThe biblical Sarah would also be saying #MeToo today
It’s pretty extraordinary to see how social media can impact the world sometimes. For all of the countless productive hours it rips away from our lives, every now and then it shines a light of purpose....
View ArticleShabbat as social action
The day of rest reminds me that changing the world begins with improving myself
View ArticleLiving with the Holocaust
Ready for a different kind of Yom HaShoah blog? If you’re a brave soul, read on. If you like your blogs nice and sweet, this one might not be for you. We’ll start off simple and easy, though. I tell...
View ArticleSo, we’re a free people in our land…now what?
Like for so many other people, singing “HaTikvah” gets my heart thumping and my eyes watering pretty much every time. I’ve sung those poetic words set to that simple but moving melody in every powerful...
View ArticleA History Lesson for Nakba Day
Nakba. It’s a word that makes many people cringe. And for good reason. This one word embodies the denial of the Jewish people’s historical and religious connection to the land of Israel and the...
View ArticleWhat I learned from my first FB friend from Egypt
Every now and then I pause and notice and realize that my Facebook feed is pretty monotone and monochrome. Same news stories shared from similar political vantage points. Similar opinions expressed...
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