The Jewish presence in Vermont can be traced back to land speculators in the 1760s, but a more substantial group, primarily German-speaking, started settling in the state in the 1840s
The Passover seder is one of Judaism’s most simultaneously stable and mutable traditions: There are universally agreed-upon aspects of the ritual (the four questions, the bitter herb, the four cups of wine), and yet there are many variations
In August 2014, Ferguson, Missouri erupted in protests after the death of Michael Brown, while thousands of miles away, war raged in Israel and Gaza. From this confluence of events emerged a new movement of black-Palestinian solidarity. How did this alliance come to be?
I recently asked undergraduates in my Jewish literature class at George Washington University whether the name Herman Wouk meant anything to any of them. Not a single hand went up; not a single nod of recognition. Caine Mutiny? No response.
The United States doesn’t need to get into a discussion of “shared values.”
Should Jews advocate for their religious choices in conversation with Jews who have chosen differently?
Religious seekers are as old as religion itself. But it wasn’t until mid-20th-century America that there was a full-fledged, organized movement of Jews who moved from less observant to more observant—and a name for them. Behold, the birth of the baal teshuvah.
In 1967 a 29-year-old Israeli-born Canadian architect by the name of Moshe Safdie gained international recognition for his groundbreaking, visionary design for high-quality, affordable urban housing.
It’s never been easy for the Israeli establishment to foresee how a newly elected American administration is going to behave. Israel did not know in advance that Lyndon Johnson was going to be Israel’s best American friend, possibly ever.
