By Rabbi Elie Mischel It was one of the very worst moments in modern Jewish history. On May 14, 1948, Israel was reborn. Five Arab nations immediately invaded the new state of Israel, which would have to fight for its life with a limited...
We are Not Orphans!
By Rabbi Elie Mischel Dr. Antoine Deliege, the Chief of Child Protection at UNICEF Tunisia, writes that the most gut-wrenching sound he has ever heard is silence in an orphanage. “I have always been struck when I walked in the babies’...
The Warrior Legacy of King David
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz King David started life as a shepherd but he came from a military family. I imagine his brothers coming home on leave, sitting at the dinner table, telling war stories to their red-headed little brother. Of...
War or Peace: Why Does the Torah Command Us to Wage War?
A young man sought spiritual perfection so he set out to find a guru. After traveling to Tibet, he spent weeks climbing a lonely mountain, finally arriving at the peak where a wizened old man sat on the rough stone, his legs crossed, his...
The Truth About Jacob’s Lentil Stew
Esau returned home from the field to find Jacob cooking lentil stew. Famished from a tiring day of hunting, Esau demanded that Jacob give him some lentil stew to eat, Jacob agreed on the condition that Esau would sell him his birthright....