A wounded veteran of the US Army who fought in World War II, my grandfather, Julius Mischel, was overjoyed to get married and start a family. But when he moved to Queens, New York, he was disturbed by the local Jewish community’s attitude...
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...
By Rabbi Elie Mischel Powerful warriors don’t fare very well in the Bible, to put it kindly. When Og, the giant warrior King of Bashan, attacked the people of Israel in the wilderness, Moses made quick work of him: “King Og of Bashan,...
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’...
It is not common for someone to take a Nazirite vow in modern times. The most notable exception was Rabbi David Cohen who, like Samson, became a Nazirite for life. And both of these Nazirites have a role in redemption. Every week, the...