Sivan Rahav-Meir

Ran went out to confront absolute evil. And it is the same evil we see today, asserting itself in Iran against its own people and elsewhere against anyone who stands for freedom and truth. We pray that this too will fall, that another hateful regime, another Jew-hating empire, will be thrown onto history’s scrap heap, just as others before it.

According to Kabbalistic teachings, there are four levels in Creation: mineral, vegetable, animal and human. In one of our Mitchadshot workshops, Rabbi Michi Yosefi applied these four categories to the dynamics in a marriage.

I had the privilege of speaking on stage, and of speaking with these young people afterward. Their eyes shine as they talk about aliyah, about pro-Israel activism on campus, about a Jewish identity that is awakening.

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If you ask me how it is that every empire, without exception, ended up in the trash bin of history while the Jewish people continue to flourish despite continued persecution, I think this picture explains everything.

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Ma’oz’s soul brought you together. He was your matchmaker. You studied in the same school for twelve years without ever having a real conversation. And yet, here you are – connected because of this Jewish hero, and through your shared love of Torah. This is not only Benji and Eliana’s private story. We are all part of something much greater.