If you feel a bit like the world might be falling apart, then look to the sukkah for how to hold it together. Here are a few thoughts for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot on faith, joy and how to build a better world. Chag sameach!
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It is a truism that struggle brings out unexpected powers from within us, and what’s true in life is true in history as well. The struggle to liberate Soviet Jewry will be a formative element of our story for decades to come, so here is the first chapter. Learn about Jacob Birnbaum and the Student…
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Here is a thought to help focus your practice during these powerful Ten Days of Repentance in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. May we all be blessed with a sweet, healthy and productive year! Shana tova, Rav Mike.
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There are stories which are turning points in a larger tale, and there are those which prove to be tempests in a tea cup. The story of the 1968 NYC school strike could be read as both. Either way, this episode offers a look at a microcosm of Black/Jewish relations in 1968 which will have…
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How we chew and swallow what history shoves down our throat can define us as individuals and nations. Here is an interview with R’ Yitz Greenberg, foundational thinker on post-Holocaust theology. In it we explore how American Jewry began to process the memory of the Holocaust, the impact of the SIx Day War on their…
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As each decade passes, the Holocaust retreats in time and grows in memory and this is not a linear process – some years count more than others. This episode looks at American Jewry’s relationship to the Shoah before and after the Six Day War and adds an important piece for understanding how Israel and Auschwitz…
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History is all about telling the story after the fact, but there is a particular wisdom to be gained in the heat of the moment which is easily lost in hindsight. The first episode of season four begins to explore the impact of the Six Day War on American Jewry through the wisdom of the…
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Just as surely as Shabbat follows the six days of the week, there was a day after the Six Day War. When the guns ceased and the discussion began, the framing of Israel’s victory became the new battlefield. The final episode of the season traces the path to UN Resolution 242, and uncovers some of…
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There are certain qualities which, when they manifest, define one’s story -determination is one of them. Here is the story of the conquest of the Golan and the close of the war, events which will determine much of the chapters to come. Image By Government Press Office (Israel), CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59598576
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What do you see as the greatest miracles in Jewish History? In many ways, how you answer indicates your understanding of history altogether. This episode deals with the first three days of the war, including the return of Am Yisrael to Jerusalem – I leave it up to you to decide where the miracle lies.
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