We do something very unusual in Kiddush Levana. After reciting the first half of Exodus 15:16 three times, “tipol aleihem eimatah va-fachad, bigdol zeroacha yidmu

As we all know, the Ten Commandments are found in Parshat Yitro and again in Parshat VaEtchanan. But there are differences. One major difference is

The word “chidah” (chet-yod-dalet-heh) appears 17 times in Tanach in various forms. The basic meaning of “chidah” seems to be a riddling question. (But sometimes

Published in 2002, Arthur Herzberg wrote “A Jew in America: My Life and A People’s Struggle for Identity.” Ordinarily, I would not review a book

In Exodus Chapter 3, God sees that Moses went to look at the burning bush. Then God instructs Moses: “Do not come near. Remove your

I base this column on “Shimon Peres: The Biography,” by Michael Bar-Zohar (2007), parts I and II. Bar-Zohar writes in the introduction: “To many, Shimon

I wrote a column about this word before. But I thought about it again when I wrote my new book “Roots and Rituals,” and there

The term “Chashmonai” is widely used in the rabbinic literature about Chanukah. But nowhere in I Maccabees and II Maccabees is the term used, and

Hallel comprises Tehillim chapters 113-118. I will discuss these words in the order they appear. עקרת: Here the meaning is “barren, without children.” Most of

Since Kislev is the month of a Jewish military “nitzachon,” I thought I would discuss the root “netzach.” I always knew that N-Tz-Ch was an

In Toldot, at the end of Chapter 26, we are told that Eisav took two Hittite wives and these became “morat ruach” to Yitzchak and

Michael Oren was Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. during President Obama’s first term. The first part of the book tells us about Oren’s early years.