Dear Jew in the City, With all the international attention on Israel’s war with Hamas, I’ve been hearing a lot of debate—both within the Jewish world and beyond—about whether Israel is obligated to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza. Some argue that as Jews, we’re commanded to help all people, even our enemies. Others say that […]
Fifteen years ago, Rachel Goldberg, the mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the 220 hostages taken by Hamas earlier this month, had a chilling premonition. In 2009, Rachel stopped in at the tent set up by the parents of Gilad Shalit, the kidnapped soldier whom the entire country of Israel was praying for. She started to speak […]
We’re living through unprecedented times in America. In my lifetime, I hoped I would never see the vitriol and antisemitic that my Jewish ancestors went through. I felt confident that “never again” really meant never again. Jews would never go through the persecution of the past. The truth and goodness of the Jewish people I […]
The qualities that foster independence are often the qualities that keep us apart from each other. Fostering our own personality, our individuality often creates divisiveness. So how do we create unity? How do we build community from individuals? We are currently experiencing this. It is no secret that leading up to October 7, Israel was […]
Yotam Haim was one of the three hostages mistakenly and tragically killed by IDF soldiers last week. His mother, Iris, sent a voice message yesterday to the soldiers who shot her son. She said: “I want to tell you that I love you very much. I know that what happened was not your fault. There […]
Jews are outnumbered. At 15 million small, in terms of our physical presence and safety, we are outnumbered. Attacks on Jews around the world have dramatically increased since October 7. We are outnumbered on social media, especially since our enemy seems to have invested a lot of money in bots that spew hateful and distorted […]
