Torah

First values, then holy places: Lesson from Sinai and Jerusalem - opinion

A hostage’s testimony and Parashat Yitro show that the Torah places values before territory.

|ByLEO DEE
Former hostage Eitan Mor attends a conference titled “Gaza: The Day After” at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, on January 12, 2026.
The God one seeks is found precisely in the confusing, unclear place.

Parashat Yitro: Illuminating the fog

Moses understood that genuine service of God is not found in thunder and lightning but rather in the place of fog, confusion, and lack of clarity.

|ByRABBI SHMUEL RABINOWITZ
A big ball of fire (illustrative)

Parashat Yitro: Before the revelation at Sinai

Whenever people are convinced that they are acting in the name of higher goals – especially when they believe they are serving God – moral boundaries become fragile.

|ByMOSHE TARAGIN
WOMEN ARE seen studying Torah and Halacha at Midreshet Lindenbaum. Women must be given the opportunity to take the Chief Rabbinate’s exams, the writer says.

Women as halachic leaders, then and now - opinion

In our generation, we are privileged to encounter women whose learning, commitment, and spiritual leadership who serve the Jewish people by answering halachic questions and issuing rulings.

|ByKENNETH BRANDER

Between ultra-Orthodox draft and Knesset coalition, Israel's democracy is too complicated - opinion

The composition of our fragile coalition in the Knesset, mirrored in the cabinet, makes governing our already volatile population factions extremely difficult.

DECEMBER 27, 2025ByWALTER BINGHAM
Protests against haredi draft begins in Jerusalem, October 30, 2025.

When brothers reunite: Ezekiel’s prophecy and Israel’s deepest divide

A biblical vision of unity shows why Israel’s deepest fractures are also its greatest tests.

DECEMBER 26, 2025ByMICHAEL FREUND
Iraqi Jews pray at the tomb of Ezekiel in Al-Kifl in southeastern Iraq on the Euphrates River, between Najaf and Al Hillah, in 1932.

Vayigash after October 7: Tears, envy, and consolation pedagogy - opinion

What Joseph teaches Israeli society today

DECEMBER 26, 2025ByZEHAVIT GROSS
Rembrandt - Joseph Accused by Potiphar's Wife

Parashat Vayigash: A shoulder of tears

 Though the formal verse of 'Shema, Israel' would only be inscribed later in Torah, Jacob sensed its truth centuries earlier.

DECEMBER 26, 2025ByMOSHE TARAGIN
Joseph meeting his father, Jacob, in the desert, at the frontier of Egypt. Painting by Jean-Antoine Julien de Parme (1736 - 1799).

Parashat Vayigash: Sharp emotional transitions

The Torah describes the emotional upheaval, the sharp transition from deep sorrow to astonishment and joy, when Jacob discovers that Joseph is alive and even holds a senior position in Egypt.

DECEMBER 26, 2025ByRABBI SHMUEL RABINOWITZ
'The Recognition of Joseph by his Brothers,’ by Peter von Cornelius, 1817.

Hatred of Jews so often fixates on the Land of Israel - opinion

Hatred of Jews has taken many forms, but it has always returned to one target: the Jewish people’s bond to the Land of Israel.

DECEMBER 22, 2025ByURI PILICHOWSKI
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators carry a banner during a protest against the arrival of an Israeli cruise ship in the port of Piraeus near Athens, Greece, June 12, 2025.

Jews cannot confront antisemitism by themselves - opinion

From Joseph and Pharaoh to today’s classrooms, it is clear that antisemitism cannot be fought by Jews alone.

DECEMBER 20, 2025ByZEHAVIT GROSS
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns visits Ahmed Al Ahmed, 43, at a hospital in Sydney, Australia, on December 15, 2025.

This week in Jewish history: Yearning for Zion

A highly abridged weekly version of Dust & Stars – Today in Jewish History.

DECEMBER 20, 2025BySTEVEN DRUCKER
PORTRAIT OF Jewish poet Naftali Herz Imber, from The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1920.

Israel’s 'supreme' democracy: Who really decides the nation’s values - opinion

From Barak to today’s High Court, a quiet revolution has ignited a fierce debate over democracy in Israel.

DECEMBER 17, 2025ByYISRAEL MEDAD
Former high Court president Aharon Barak is seen at a conference of the Israeli Association of Public Law (IAPL) in Haifa, earleir this month. Arguments over judicial overreach and activism in Israel have been ongoing for years, the writer notes.

Seeing our brothers’ plight: The light Hanukkah demands we bring into the world - opinion

Hanukkah and Vayeshev together reveal that the festival’s light shines only when we open our eyes to our brothers’ struggles and choose loyalty and compassion.

DECEMBER 14, 2025ByKENNETH BRANDER
Candles are lit on the eighth night, at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, last Hanukkah. The main idea of the holiday is the spiritual illumination of the public sphere, says the writer.