First Person

My Very First AIPAC Policy Conference

First Person Jason Ciment

All I could think of as a first-timer drinking the Cool-Aid, was where do I sign up for next year.

Why I need to Tell My Truth About Serving in the Israeli army

First Person Matan Katzman

No longer will delegitimization efforts go unchallenged. That's a silence we will continue to break.

A Nation Mobilizes

First Person Rabbi Chaim Goldberg

But of course, despite all these signals that something was very, very, very, wrong, nothing in my wildest imaginations conceived of the full horror that confronted me upon opening the news motzaei Simchat Torah.

My Rav

First Person Guest Author

Rav Lichtenstein did not learn Tanaim, Amoraim, Rishonim and Achronim, rather he learned with them

Siddurim for our Troops

First Person Matthew Miller

One thing of which we are certain, and something that provides moments of not just comfort, but of hope, is the response of the ordinary people of Israel to the difficult times in which we find ourselves.

Rooted in the Land

First Person Rabbi Jonathan Ziring

LeAdam Maarechei Lev, UMeiHashem Maaneh Lashon – The thoughts of the heart are man’s, but from G-d comes the utterance of the tongue (Mishlei 16:1). I barely know what I am feeling yet I trust Hashem to give me the words.

Ari Fuld on Remembering Yehoshua Friedberg [video]

First Person Ari Fuld HY"D

I don't want to go to a memorial service, I can't stand military funerals and I can't forget. I hate this! Too many thoughts...

The Chesed Bubble

First Person Ziona Greenwald, J.D.

Everyone has a husband/son/brother/nephew/cousin who has been called up, and ten days in, already everyone knows of someone who won’t be coming home.

Scents of Geula

First Person Shui Haber

Our world seemed to shift overnight. Flights canceled, a family bar mitzvah postponed, the resurgence of online school – we were thrust back into a lifestyle reminiscent of the covid era.

Our Babies… Our Flag

First Person Barbara Diamond

As the days of this war proceed, possibly well-meaning people ask us to care for those who may be collateral damage. The actions of Hamas have made that quite impossible. The responsibility lies exclusively on their shoulders.

Pittsburgh Massacre: Personal Accounts

First Person Jewish Press Staff

The Pain Never Eases

First Person Yehudit Tayar

Yehudit's backstory and her poems related to the Yom Kippur War are a MUST read

From The Jewish Press Co-Publisher

First Person Naomi Klass Mauer

Monday we had sirens in Jerusalem. It's very frightening. It's hard for me to rush anywhere, and the only place I can go is into the hallway – and then comes the loud boom, thank G-d.

Jewish Press Blogger’s Movie to Hit the Big Screen

First Person Tzvi Fishman

An Israeli actor pal asked me why I knew nothing about Judaism-The question hit like a thunderbolt

We Didn’t Understand the Gazans

First Person Ben Waxman

If there is one thing that I can take comfort in, it is that the Arabs misunderstand us just as badly as we misunderstand them. If they thought that surprising Israel would bring us to our knees, then maybe they should have checked with Nassrallah about that assumption.

The Trenton Trial: Was It Kidnapping To Free An Agunah?

First Person Nathan Lewin

FBI’s undercover agents contacted ORA (Org. for the Resolution of Agunot) pretending to be an agunah

One In A Million

First Person Rosally Saltsman

It’s not democracy that’s worrying the opponents of the judicial reform, said Shine, it’s demography – the fact that the religious right is gaining in numbers and strength.

We Are All Called Up

First Person Naami Ganz

We are all being called up. None of us are untouched by this war. It may be different for you or for me, but at the end of the day, as Jewish people, we are all connected.

Yom Hazikaron: Remembering Ari Fuld and Yehoshua Friedberg HY’D

First Person Stephen Leavitt

The year was 1992, Ari Fuld and I had just been drafted into the IDF as lone soldiers...

Diary from the Ukrainian Border: The Rescue Team, The Refugees & Their Stories

Diary from the Ukraine Border Hana Levi Julian

After bringing her grandchildren to safety, one woman drove back to Ukraine, unwilling to leave her home and family in Odessa.

Diary from the Ukraine Border: A Flying Purim Party

Diary from the Ukraine Border Hana Levi Julian

United Hatzalah emergency medical personnel and other volunteers distributed kosher meals, snacks, cookies and candies to all the passengers in the flying Purim party.

What Our Children See

First Person Sarah Sassoon

They are scared. They are dealing with emotions adults struggle to deal with. Breathe, I say to my youngest son. Breathe and know we have each other.

When the Arabs Surrendered Hebron: Rabbi Goren Recalls How He Reclaimed the Cave of...

First Person Rav Shlomo Goren

Rav Goren, a general and the Chief Rabbi of the Israeli army, recalls the excitement of and hurdles to being the first Jew to open the gates of the Cave of the Patriarchs in more than a thousand years

“Tell Your Children the Story”

First Person Faigie Heiman

Telling the story – the miracle story of the Six Day War – is my duty.

We Will Prevail

First Person Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander

There is hardly a home in Israel that has not been touched. But the People of Israel are the eternal people – and we will prevail.

Concentric Circles

First Person Rabbi Elli Fischer

Each circle is crucial. Each circle reinforces and enables the others, and each contributes to the extraordinary effort that we must collectively make.

My Encounter with Rav Lichtenstein

First Person Stephen Leavitt

What was supposed to have been a 15 minute interview, turned into an intense learning session and intellectual battle, the likes of which I had never experienced in my entire life.

The Diapora’s Dilemma in Sydney

First Person Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu

The decision to not publicly light the Menorah in Sydney, epitomizes the eternal dilemma of Judaism and Jews in the Diaspora.

Diary from the Ukrainian Border: Flight and Arrival

Diary from the Ukraine Border Hana Levi Julian

The JewishPress.com has sent Hana Levi Julian to the Ukrainian border with a United Hatzalah mission, to report on the refugees, the Jewish aid efforts and the situation in Ukraine. This is the first report in a series of diary entries of was Hana is witnessing.