In this atmosphere of heightened religious conflict and hatred, it is important to pay tribute to those giants of different times fought for tolerance, understanding and inter faith reconciliation. Among them was the Indian Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin sometimes referred as Abul Kalam Azad, was a Muslim Indian nationalist, and the first Minister of Education in the Indian Government. His contribution to establishing the education foundation in India is still recognized today

Devarim Chapters 26-29:8   Mount Eyval   Apart from Mount Sinai, the other mountains mentioned in the Torah were Mount Eyval and Mount Gerizim on the West Bank of the river Jordan, in the land of Canaan. The first time they're mentioned is in Devarim Chapter 11 verse 29 . The Torah commanded the children of Israel that when they crossed the river Jordan, they would split into two groups one standing on the top of Mount Eyval and the other on Mount Gerizim . The priests in t

This past Shabbat, as every year before the Fast of Av, is called Shabbat Chazon, and we read the negative Haftarah from the First...

Every year the Ninth of Av (this year on Sunday) raises the issue of the Holocaust. We commemorate the destruction of two Jewish states,...

I was always interested in history. And having been brought up in England, specifically English history. One of the most significant eras...

In  The Economist  of June 20 th , there was an interesting article under the heading “Do longevity drugs work.” The subtitle was that...

For the past two years I’ve been conflicted, even close to despair over whether real peace is ever possible in Israel, and under what...

Edward Gibbon the English historian (1737 to 1794) wrote six volumes of  The History of the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire . His...

Anyone interested in history will know that the Yalta Conference was a meeting between the leaders of the United States, Britain, and...

The festival of of Shavuot (AKA Pentecost) which falls on next Monday, and Tuesday for the Diaspora, marks the 49 days or seven weeks from Passover.

This morning, I overheard a conversation in the gym in which someone was declaring, in reference to the murders of the two Jews in Washington, that there are crazy people everywhere and murders happen. And that may be so. But crazy people are easily inflamed by the poison that the press and social media spread like manure.

The opera  Aida  was composed by Giuseppe Verdi and first performed in 1871. The story is about a mythical Egyptian Kingdom in which the...

A two-volume work has just been published. Milhemet Mitzvah :  Editors Aviad Hacohen, Yitzchak Avi Roness and Menachem Butler . The...

Happy Chag Ha’Atsmaut even if for some it is already over. There was much to celebrate. And now or something different! Something I never...

There’s no question that the challenges we Jews are facing at this moment , internally and externally, are enormous and scary. On the...

I have the pleasure of lecturing weekly on the Bible. We are now in the first Book of Shmuel (Samuel) which marks an important watershed...