Questions and Answers

On Tisha B’(the 9th day of the month of) Av, the Jewish people mourn the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. It is one of the four mandatory fasts of the Jewish faith, and one of the more difficult ones, since it takes place during the heat of the summer months, starting...

Purim is a meaningful celebration for the Jewish people, when we gather to remember the events of the Mordechai and Esther story at Shushan HaBira in Persia many years ago. It was after the destruction of the first Temple that the Jewish people spread out in the diaspora...

The Hebrew term “Aliya” literally means “elevation.” The term is widely used in the Jewish culture to describe being called up to recite the blessings on the Torah reading in the synagogue, as well as to describe immigration of Jewish people to the land of Israel. Each of these...

“Baal Teshuva” is a Hebrew expression that refers to an individual who has become enhanced his or her observance of Torah. The literal translation of the term is “the possessor of the answer.” Commonly, this term is used to describe someone who was...

Judea and Samaria – or Yehuda v’Shomron, in Hebrew – make up the heartland area of Israel to the south and north of Jerusalem. These regions were under Jordanian occupation from 1948 until 1967. While under Jordanian control, the region was dubbed “the...

In January, 2012, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appointed a committee to examine the status of Israeli building in Judea and Samaria. Edmund Levy, former Justice and Vice President of the Supreme Court, headed the committee; its other members were Alan Baker,...