Religion News Service

23 hours ago | religionnews.com | Jeffrey Salkin

(RNS) — In Israel, ever since Oct. 7, 2023, when you meet someone on the street, you ask the casual question: “Ma shlomech?” or “How are you? What is the state of your peace, your wholeness?”The typical response is: “Shlomi k’shlom ami”: “I am only as good as my people; my peace is only as good as the peace, the wholeness, of my people.”We American Jews get it. We feel as if we are living in a state of siege.

3 days ago | religionnews.com | Fiona Andre

(RNS) — On June 19, 1865, slaves in Galveston, Texas, finally got news of their liberation — two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation abolishing slavery. Ever since, Texans have celebrated the end of slavery on Juneteenth, a melding of the words “June” and “nineteenth.” Juneteenth was designated as a day of observance in Texas in 1980, followed by Oklahoma, Minnesota and Florida in the 1990s.

3 days ago | religionnews.com | Jeffrey Salkin

(RNS) — You know that line about how even a broken clock can be right twice a day? That is how I feel about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I will eagerly enter a contempt competition with anyone regarding Netanyahu. His corruption, cynicism and capitulation to the worst aspects of Israeli society enrage me and many others. But in the face of a crisis for the Jewish people — like on Oct. 7, 2023, and now with Israel’s conflict with Iran — I set that aside at least temporarily.

1 week ago | religionnews.com | Fiona Andre

(RNS) — As far as Aymann Ismail remembers, his father embraced fatherhood naturally, embodying a strong and pious figure in his household. But when Ismail became a father in 2021, it didn’t all come so naturally. He felt unprepared and doubted whether he would be able to emulate his father — his Baba, as he calls him. He wondered: What does being a Muslim father mean? Will he succeed in connecting his kids to their Egyptian heritage? Will he lose them to the American melting pot?

1 week ago | religionnews.com | Jeffrey Salkin

(RNS) — The news of Israel’s unprecedented attack on Iran’s nuclear and military sites that killed some of Iran’s most powerful men — military and nuclear leaders — arrived late Thursday (June 12) in the U.S. I realized, as I tried to get some sleep between watching CNN, that, as Jews prepared for Shabbat on Friday and wished each other “Shabbat shalom,” there will be no shalom this evening, nor in the days that lie ahead.