This week in Basel, Switzerland, Israel is commemorating the 125th anniversary of the 1st Zionist Congress. At the conclusion of that congress, Theodor Herzl, who organized the conference and was the driving force behind the Zionist movement in its early…
It seems like social media, pandemics, and modern life have made us isolated people, more alienated from each other than ever, and enjoying mainly our own company. People’s conversation time has been declining for nearly thirty years, and even video…
September 1st is the beginning of the school year in Israel. Beginning this year, Jewish Israeli students will not learn about the history of the Jewish people during the period of the Second Temple, its destruction, the Great Revolt of…
The passing of Mikhail Gorbachev reminded me of a brief conversation I had had with him. Even before I met him, I had the impression that he was truly a different kind of politician. He was not inherently bad; he…
Humans are emotional beings. Feelings guide us, determine our thoughts, our decisions in life, and our judgment. Whatever we do, we do it to feel good or to avoid feeling bad. Feelings are so central to our being that they…
Once a week, filmmaker Semion Vinokur interviews me on a program called Novosti (News). In the program, Semion asks about current affairs and presents viewers’ comments. In the previous show, he presented a poignant question from a viewer who called…
In the end, what everyone wants is to have a good life. A good life means more or less the same for everyone: a decent place to live, food on the table, good health, education for the children, and most…
It may not seem like it now, but I have a feeling that we are headed for another wave of Covid. The story with Covid is not over yet; in about two months, around November, we will see another wave…
There is a reason for the apocalyptic talk that is so prevalent these days. The threat of the Russia-Ukraine war turning nuclear at the beginning of the war, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station that has become a center-point of contention,…
A few days before the beginning of the school year in Israel, the feeling here is that the education system has seen better times. Many teachers are quitting, especially the young and more gifted ones, and few are filling the…
A famous Israeli singer recently wrote on social media that Operation Breaking Dawn, the three-day military campaign in May in which Israel fought against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, may have been a military victory, but it did not…
The recent study by Gallup and West Health, which found that rising healthcare costs have forced nearly 100 million Americans “to delay or skip healthcare treatments, trim regular household expenses or borrow money,” could bode ill for Jews. Since the…
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