10. Tisha Be'av

CENTER OF THE UNVERSE THE ETERNAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BEIT HAMIKDASH בית המקדש השלישי Border squabbles and political unrest crop up all over the globe, but one particular conflict bleeds most heavily off the news pages. Any multiethnic society may fight for religious—or secular—ground, but the swaying of one particular type of petitioner in one specific space is the ticking time bomb of a potential world war. What is it about Jerusalem and its environs that has every discerni

PLANTED, NOT BURIED THE TRANSFORMATIVE NATURE OF A FAST DAY ימי הצומות יהפכו לימים טובים Many ancient cultures contain the legend of a phoenix. The story is of a bird that lives hundreds of years only to be self-immolated, then ultimately reborn from its own ashes. The book of Iyov [29:18] speaks of a bird called “chol” as a symbol of Iyov’s dashed hopes for longevity. Rashi explains that the chol lives a thousand years and then reverts to its youthful self. A symbol of immor