Torah

Passover reimagined: How Jews reinterpret freedom at the Seder table

Passover celebrates liberty, tradition, and the evolving ways we mark the Seder night.

|ByBARRY DAVIS
Rabbi Daniel Burstyn conducting a Seder on Kibbutz Lotan.
‘Our revered Rosh Yeshiva Rav Yehuda Amital (pictured 2007) gathered us and shared his experiences from the labor camps during World War II.’

Seder night: A crumpled white shirt reveals Passover’s deeper meaning

Rav Amital’s lesson shows that even a rushed Seder can be meaningful and spiritually powerful.

|ByMOSHE TARAGIN
YOUNG WOMEN study at Jerusalem’s Midreshet Lindenbaum

Staying put: Realizing a modern Exodus amid times of challenge - opinion

In this sense, remaining in the land at this time is a particularly profound expression of that ancient story. It says: We are already part of the journey, and we want to be nowhere other than here.'

|ByROI ABECASSIS
DO WE not have the right to mourn, to take stock of our losses? Pictured: Direct Iran missile hit in Arad, seen March 22.

Passover and the Holocaust: Why Judaism refuses to build identity on tragedy - opinion

The only safeguard against this constant danger is constant vigilance: seeing Jewish duty as the greatest of privileges.

|ByNATHAN LOPES CARDOZO

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.

Art and Torah: A molten menorah and the power of light from darkness

From Joseph’s darkest moments to Hanukkah’s rising flames, exploring how light is born from depth.

DECEMBER 14, 2025ByMEIRA RAANAN
‘Molten Menorah,’ by Yoram Raanan, 100x80 cm., acrylic on canvas, 2025.

Parashat Vayeshev: Leadership does not equal influence

Joseph and Judah show that true leadership is built on integrity, responsibility, and lifting others.

DECEMBER 12, 2025ByMOSHE TARAGIN
People move people; ideas alone rarely do.

Parashat Vayeshev: Bringing hearts closer

The parsha does not show a clash of good vs evil, but a deep disagreement about leadership and the path by which the people of Israel should take.

DECEMBER 12, 2025ByRABBI SHMUEL RABINOWITZ
Most conflicts do not stem from malice but from a lack of genuine understanding.

AMLAT: Guiding young Spanish-speaking women in Israel

The program offers young women from Latin America the opportunity to study Torah in a full-time, structured framework. Of the 450 girls who have participated so far, about 30% have made aliyah.

DECEMBER 11, 2025ByBATSHEVA SHULMAN
Alumni of Midreshet Lindenbaum’s Amlat program visit the Kotel.

The Jewish joy of growing older - opinion

'Youth is the most precious thing in life; it’s a shame that it has to be wasted on the young.' – George Bernard Shaw

DECEMBER 8, 2025BySTEWART WEISS
RABBI MENACHEM MENDEL SCHNEERSON of Lubavitch at a Lag Ba’omer parade in Brooklyn, 1987.