Daily Kavanah – Friday, December 20, 2024
:וְיִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אָהַ֤ב אֶת־יוֹסֵף֙ מִכָּל־בָּנָ֔יו כִּֽי־בֶן־זְקֻנִ֥ים ה֖וּא ל֑וֹ וְעָ֥שָׂה ל֖וֹ כְּתֹ֥נֶת פַּסִּֽים And Israel (Jacob) loved his son Joseph more than all his sons, because he was a son of his old age; and he [...]
Search for Meaning with Ambassador Gary Grappo – Regime Change in Syria
Rabbi Yoshi sits down with Gary Grappo, former U.S. Ambassador to Oman, Chief of Staff of the Quartet, and foreign policy expert with more than four decades of experience in the [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, December 13, 2024
In this week’s Torah portion, the Jewish people earn a new name: Yisrael. Here’s the context:Jacob was left alone. And a figure wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When he saw that he [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, December 6, 2024
Despite claims to the contrary, the simple fact is that our connection to the land of Israel spans thousands of years. We are far from settler colonialists. In fact, Israel is our land of [...]
Search for Meaning with Rabbi Josh Feigelson
Rabbi Josh Feigelson was appointed Executive Director of IJS in January 2020 and became President & CEO in April 2022. He received ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in 2005, [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, November 29, 2024
In October 1863, in the midst of our nation’s bloodiest war, President Abraham Lincoln officially declared Thanksgiving a national holiday to be observed on the fourth Thursday of November in perpetuity. Even in a [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, November 22, 2024
“Sarah’s lifetime—the span of Sarah’s life—came to one hundred and twenty-seven years. Sarah died in Kiriath-arba—now Hebron—in the land of Canaan; and Abraham proceeded to mourn for Sarah and to bewail her. Then Abraham rose [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, November 15, 2024
One of the most troubling passages in our Torah is found in this week’s portion, Vayera: God commands Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac.We read this story every year on Rosh Hashanah. It appears in Chapter [...]
The Gratitude List
Rabbi Yoshi shares his Yom Kippur Yizkor sermon which honors the memory of his mother, Hermene Davis Zweiback, who died 25 years ago. A few weeks before the Jewish New [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, November 8, 2024
According to some traditions, there are 600,000 letters in the Torah, corresponding to the number mentioned in the book of Exodus of male Israelites of fighting age who left Egypt in the time of Moses. Rabbi [...]