Dr. Samuel Lebens / Jewish World blogger

Those who can understand the suffering of the other without marginalizing their own pain should be an inspiration to all; while Memorial Day and Independence Day are important for cementing our communal sense of belonging, Israel must spend the rest of the year hearing the narrative of the other.

In the same way that we count up, not down, during the Omer, in anticipation of the long-awaited end, the Jewish world must work toward collective goals, rather than from a collective history.

To be a Jew is to be able to place yourself inside the story, and find that in so doing you belong.

The argument that Diaspora Zionists should not publicly criticize Israel in the media is fundamentally flawed, for if it weren’t for rational critics – who at times give Israel a bad name – the Jewish state would fail to win the hearts of the ‘swinging’ public.

Britain’s chief rabbi has used his political office to become a statesman for enlightened Jewry, resonating among prime ministers, presidents, Jews and Gentiles, intellectuals and laity.

Two online blogs have taken the Daf Yomi Cycle to a new – more accessible – level.

If we were all just a tad less British, perhaps we’d be able to articulate what makes us proud to be Jewish.

In Israel, religion is so politicized that our own people is divided. But in the Diaspora, we can be proudly Jewish while remaining non-partisan.

The pain of Jewish people informs our humor, just as on Hanukkah the darkness informs the light.

Sometimes we have to get our hands dirty. And we must know from the outset that we’re not always going to get things right. But when faced with challenges, we must climb Jacob's ladder.

Would you eat in my house? We keep kosher, but we have no certificate.

In the second of a two-part blog about the Temple Mount, Dr. Samuel Lebens argues that, given certain provisos, worshippers should be able to pray wherever they want.

Jewish World blogger Dr. Samuel Lebens explores his complex relationship with the Temple Mount and with those who want to rebuild the temple.

Jewish festivals are tied up with remembering the past, but Shemini Atzeret, tagged onto the end of Sukkot, is the exception to the rule.

Not everyone can keep up with all the prayers on Yom Kippur. Fortunately, according to the Rabbis, the word 'Amen' can sometimes say it all.

I didn’t see him personally, but I’m sure he was there at the annual Limmud Conference.

A state of seven million prime ministers is no longer a state; it’s anarchy. It is the role of the citizens, not the soldiers, to protest against harmful national policies.

So long as Zionism, like Olympic nationalism, is tempered by other values, it can be a force for good. But as soon as Jews forget about our ethical mission, nationalism can devolve into something horrific.

In their humanity, some of our rabbis have failed us of late, with accusations, and even convictions, of money laundering, corruption and sexual abuse.

It is an eroding value of the West that people should resign as a matter of honor.

The notion that we are a race is destructive. If the Jews are a race, then Zionism is racism. If the Jews are a race, then parents who don’t want their children to intermarry are racists.

Matisyahu and Y-love are engaged with their religious journeys. It’s time that we all began our own.

If excellent athletes can be exempted from the IDF on the basis that their talent needs to be nurtured uninterrupted from a young age, then that same argument can be made for the most gifted of young Talmud scholars.

I love my Mom to bits, but she won’t be getting a Mother’s Day card from me.

The left-wing 'thought-police' is often said to go too far, but now, it is elements in the Israeli right who are doing exactly the same thing.

How does the EU plan to label products from the Occupied Territories really help principled consumers, when on the ground the situation is too complex to boil down into a list of kosher places and non-kosher places?