In its description of the Jubilee year, the Torah tell us in 25:9 that the shofar is to be sounded throughout the land on Yom Kippur of Yovel.  Noting how we don’t blow shofar when Shabbos … more

Sefer Vayikra is the sole book in the Tanach in which the phrase “v’yarata m’elokecha” (“and you shall fear your G-d”) is found. It appears three times in Parashat … more

I want to tell you something about my grandmother, Miriam Harris Goldberg, editor and publisher of the Denver-based Intermountain Jewish News weekly. She turned 100 years old on Wednesday! One … more

In the name of full disclosure let it be noted at the outset that the author of the book under review this week, Yankie Schwartz, was a former student of mine at the Chofetz Chaim High School in … more

“He’s not Hitler. He wants to help America.” Melania Trump’s comment about her husband, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, will go down as one of the more memorable quotes in an election cycle … more

One of the most unusual textual juxtapositions in parasha Emor occurs at the onset of the Torah’s discussion of the mo’adim (festivals) (Vayikra, chapter 23): “And the L-rd spoke to … more

One of the more blatant ways in which the Torah indicates an anti-cruelty manner of behavior is in the rule of “oto v’et b’no” which creates an awareness that an animal and … more

I’ve always been confused about what to call it: England, UK, Britain, or Britannia? They are in my mind interchangeable. And just like that, the news from there became equally confusing. … more

Nakba Day (May 15) is the “day of the catastrophe” on which Palestinians “mourn” the creation of Israel. In truth the day became a catastrophe for the Palestinian Arabs thanks … more

Despite leaving the world an unsafer place than when he found it, President Barack Obama isn’t shying away from busting those foreign policy taboos. The president who brought us a nuclear … more