The First Political Prisoner Released by Mikhail Gorbachev Reflects on His Legacy
One cheer for the former dictator.
September 1, 2022
Penitential Prayers Require Penitential Deeds
“Just as He is compassionate and merciful, so too should you be compassionate and merciful.”
With the beginning of the current month of Elul, the last of the Jewish calendar year, Sephardim begin reciting daily penitential prayers known as sliḥot; most Ashkenazim will not begin to say them this year until September 17. The central feature of these prayers, which usher in a period of individual and communal repentance that culminates with Yom Kippur, is the repeated recitation of a passage from Exodus 34, known in the rabbinic tradition as “the thirteen attributes of mercy.” In an analysis of the laws and customs of sliḥot and the significance of these scriptural verses, Jacob J. Schacter writes:
September 1, 2022
Saudi Arabia Is Ridding Its Textbooks of Anti-Semitism, but the Rest of the Middle East Has a Long Way to Go
The UAE is the best; Iran and Houthi Yemen the worst.
How the Abraham Accords Are Mitigating Israel-Palestinian Violence
Shrinking the conflict.
Penitential Prayers Require Penitential Deeds
“Just as He is compassionate and merciful, so too should you be compassionate and merciful.”
A 1,000-Year-Old Mass Grave in England May Contain Victims of an Anti-Semitic Massacre
And evidence of the antiquity of Ashkenazi genetic disease.