From the Executive Editor

In My Own Words: Debating antisemitism

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman 

I would love to organize a discussion between Dara Horn and Philip Slayton. For those who don’t know, Horn is an American novelist who also wrote a book of essays called “People Love Dead Jews: Reports From a Haunted Past,” which I wrote about in this column…

In My Own Words: Asking the wrong question

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Every major newspaper in the United States offered details about the deal President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached to prevent the United States from defaulting for the first time in the history of our country. The questions and the tone of many …

In My Own Words: A wonderful ceremony with bittersweet overtones

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

One of the friends who accompanied me asked if I was going to put an article in the paper about the ceremony and I said there was going to be a one-inch “Of note” (see page 3) and maybe something for this column. She muttered something along the lines that I cer…

In My Own Words: Here we go again

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Do you ever feel like a broken record, repeating something that no one seems to hear? The title of this column, “Here we go again,” was written with a deep sigh of discouragement after reading the headline “Study: Asian Americans don’t feel safe – Rising …

In My Own Words: Drops of wine and Russia

By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

For me, the most moving moment of the Passover seder is when we remove drops of wine – the wine that symbolizes joy and gladness – from our cups while reciting the plagues that occurred before the Israelites were released from slavery. We are reminded that, eve…