The word purim means “lots” — as in lots drawn in games of chance — and in the Purim story it is by lot that the time of the Jews’ demise is decided. Despite their contributions to government and to ...

Yossi Klein Halevi, a journalist, writer and senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, spent a morning recently with 200 Reform Rabbis teaching that two passages in the Hebrew Bible ...

(RNS) — Esther’s greatness lies not only in her willingness to speak truth to power, but in choosing the strategic moment to do so. (RNS) — Purim, the Jewish holiday that falls this year on Monday ...

The lessons and traditions of Purim seem especially meaningful this year. As we navigate a post-October 7 world, there is profound wisdom to be found in the ancient Scroll of Esther. Megillat Esther ...

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that Purim this year is going to be very different than usual. Normally, it’s tough to deal with the shortened day when Purim falls out on a Friday, ...

Visiting a synagogue as a guest lecturer on Purim can be a highly disorienting experience, as I recently learned. Your job is to help congregants explore the deeper meanings in a festival dedicated to ...

The adoption of the White Paper was a product of Arab threats that they would open a new front against the British in the Middle East unless Jewish immigration into Palestine was seriously curtailed.

Purim has come and gone, but I can’t stop thinking about it. Perhaps this is because Purim’s Megillat Esther is the only one of the five megillot that is read not once but twice. Eicha (Lamentations) ...

At sundown today, the Jewish holiday of Purim begins. It’s a festive, fun celebration of a victory for freedom of religion. As was the case in most of the historic struggles of the Jewish people, had ...

We have an amazing love for our fellow Jew. Recently, we experienced snowstorms like we have not seen in years, with over two feet of snow falling in Brooklyn. Trying to shovel that amount of snow ...