This has been a difficult week. Three of our sons, Yaakov, Gilad and Eyal have been missing since Thursday night and despite the best efforts of the Israeli army, the police, the intelligence community, and rescue units, we seem no nearer to learning their whereabouts. more

They were a small group of pioneers with a mission. The year was 1940, and Jews by the tens of thousands were being herded into the ghettos of Nazi-occupied Europe. And while the Nazi hierarchy was meeting to determine the “final solution to the Jewish problem,” this small group was preparing the groundwork for what they believed would be the influx of refugees who would need a home and a place to call their own. more

It is a conversation I will remember forever. We were in the midst of basic tank training, enjoying a brief respite from the grueling pace of maneuvers and marches. more

Who we are as a people begins with what we hold dear and what we truly value. There are many burdens we carry in this world. The challenge may well be in how we choose to carry them. This week’s portion, Naso, contains a case in point. “Ki avodat HaKodesh Aleihem ba’katef yisau’.” (“For the holy [items of] service they shall carry upon the shoulder.”) (Bamidbar 7:9) more

Three thousand years ago, King Solomon wrote in the book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) that there is a time and a season for everything under the sun. “A time to sing, and a time to dance, a time to rejoice and a time to mourn, a time to reap and a time to sow.” And, like all things, there is a time to ask questions and a time to remain silent." In the Israeli army, there is a type of question known as a she’elat kitbag or kitbag question. more

January 6, 1944. Snow on the ground; bitter cold; the sun hides behind the dark grey clouds over the harsh landscape of Auschwitz. Four gallows; four nooses, swaying in the wind. The members of the SonderKommando (special units) were responsible for removing the bodies from the gas chambers and burning them in the infamous crematoria. more

There is a legend regarding Moses Mendelssohn, the grandfather of the well-known German composer, who was far from being handsome (long with a rather short stature, he had a grotesque hunchback). One day he visited a merchant in Hamburg who had a lovely daughter named Frumtje.Moses fell helplessly in love with her, but Frumtje was repulsed by his misshapen appearance. more

The sound of the train pulling in to the Kfar Saba station filled the air on another beautiful afternoon. Hundreds of people getting on and off a second train across the platform, beneath the beautiful new glass and stone ceiling of the modern new station opened only two weeks before. more

Jerusalem, 1948. The newly born State of Israel was struggling against vastly superior Arab forces, and Jerusalem, the heart and soul of the Jewish people, was under siege. There was only one major road to Jerusalem from the west, where the majority of Israel’s population and her food and supplies production lay, and the Arabs had successfully blocked access to the capital to all but the bravest of travelers. more

One wonders whether the Mashiach (messiah) and the redemption he is meant to bring still have not come because we are still waiting for him, or because he is still waiting for us. more