by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 2, 2023 | Community, Israel, Judges, Responsibility
By Rabbi Elie Mischel Throughout the book of Judges, the people of Israel’s greatest enemy was looking at them in the mirror. Though they were plagued by many dangerous external enemies, Israel suffered most from internal division and infighting. The tribes, by and...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 31, 2023 | Judges
By Rabbi Elie Mischel The Book of Judges has a standard playbook: the people of Israel drift away from God, God sends enemies to persecute them, the people cry out to God, and then God sends a heroic warrior to save them. As you would expect, the heroic warriors are...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 29, 2023 | Israel, Judges, Leadership, Responsibility
By Rabbi Elie Mischel Othniel, the first judge of Israel described in the book of Judges, was a courageous warrior and military leader. When Caleb, the aging leader of the tribe of Judah, sought a younger man to lead the men of Judah in battle, Othniel volunteered:...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 23, 2023 | Israel, Judges, Revelation and Prophecy
By Rabbi Elie Mischel What is the point of studying the Book of Judges? Yes, I know this sounds heretical. But it’s a fair question! We live in a modern world that appears, at first glance, to have very little in common with the stories of the Book of Judges. The...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 22, 2023 | Israel, Shevat, Tu B'shvat, Zechariah
By Chaim Barzel This verse from Zechariah is the very first verse in the Hebrew Bible that mentions the month of Shevat. But it’s only the second that mentions “the eleventh month.” Do you know where “the eleven month” is first mentioned? I’ll give you hint –...
by Eliyahu Berkowitz | f 3, 2023 | Antisemitism, Chosen Nation, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Kings, Temple, Tenth of Tevet
High school was difficult for me. Not only was I an awkward teen but there was also a group of guys who, unbeknownst to me, had decided amongst themselves that they would make my life miserable. They would take turns playing pranks on me. At first, I thought I was the...
