As hours of news broadcasts covered the racist and outrageous tweets of Roseanne Barr, 216 projectiles, rockets, and mortars fired from Gaza into Israel went relatively unreported or underreported.

Read my latest Newsmax article, "Palestinian Terror Strikes Get Little Attention in Media" to try to bring greater transparency to the threats facing the Democratic Jewish State.

Over 100 events filled the GatherDC community calendar in April 2018. They ranged from a weekly Jewish yoga class at Adas Israel to listening to a Holocaust survivor at the EDCJCC. Events spanned all areas of the city, and extended to Maryland and Virginia. They included social gatherings like bar bingo, and educational outings for Jews of all identity groups.  

Diverse in many ways, but one thread bound these 100+ programs together: they were Jewish.

Read my latest post in GatherDC on Jewish identity.

On May 3, President Donald J. Trump marked the National Day of Prayer by signing an executive order creating the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative. At the signing ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, Trump referred to this initiative as “another historic action to promote religious freedom.”

The executive order revoked previous presidential faith-based initiatives, namely President George W. Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and President Barack Obama's Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Read my latest story for Kol HaBirah.

Spring has sprung.

It has come in like a lion. But I hope that it goes out like a lamb. And I’m not talking about the weather. Well, kind of…

On Friday, March 16, an elected official from DC’s Council serving the residents of Ward 8, made a regrettable statement.  This was not his first. His subsequent apologies rang with a sense of sorrow. They spoke of regret. They addressed a need to move forward and to use the remarks as a learning experience.

Read my latest GatherDC blog post on anti-Semitism in DC and abroad.

No stranger to foreign dignitaries, the Greater Washington community welcomed an ambassador of a different sort on Feb. 22. In an intimately stripped-down performance, Idan Raichel, the famed international music icon from Israel, focused on the original essence of his songs during a solo piano concert at the 1,976-seat concert hall at Strathmore in Bethesda, Maryland.

See my latest article in Kol HaBirah to learn more.

On Feb. 14, U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rabbi Dr. Meir Y. Soloveichik discussed the relationship between religion and American government and the contributions that biblical ideas have made to American political thought at an event hosted by the Hoover Institution. The discussion, which took place in partnership with the Tikvah Fund at the Hoover Institution’s Washington, D.C., satellite office, was part of the institution’s monthly “Opening Arguments” series and was moderated by Research Fellow Adam J. White.

Read my latest article in Kol HaBirah to learn more about the program.

Israel Bonds Washington Executive Director Adam Herman pens an op-ed in Kol HaBirah to recap the 2017 year.  I'm quoted saying:

“To me, the most tangible thing a Jewish man or woman in the diaspora can do to support Israel is to make aliyah, and the second most tangible thing is to support the country economically," said Langsner. "I choose Israel Bonds as one of my ways to do that.”

It is the year of chai (18) – of life – so let us all hope that 2018 is the year that a just and lasting peace is found between the Israeli people and the Palestinian people.

Some signs point to optimism, such as the recent behind-the-scene actions of Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in how they’re approaching a new peace plan with the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership.  Other signs point to continued pessimism, such as how the PA and United Nations reacted to President Donald Trump recognizing Jerusalem as the capitol at the end of 2017, that such a peace will not be found this year.

Read my first post in a new blog series for GatherDC.

Read The Jerusalem Post article, "Israel Bonds new leadership: Continuing the legacy" to learn more about Israel Bonds New Leadership.

I'm cited in the article:

"Panel participants and National New Leadership council members Jason Langsner and Teri Herbstman similarly reverberated the vocation of the Bonds mandate.  Langsner, also vice-chair of National New Leadership and avid pro-Israel essayist, encouraged the future trailblazers to be active within their cities and spread awareness of Bonds initiatives.  Herbstman, a passionate Israel supporter and philanthropist, illustrated ways that she invests such as donating purchased bonds to American universities in a demonstration to stand against anti-Semitism, and highlighted how Israel bonds can satisfy a double mitzvah by gifting them for life’s celebrations while simultaneously enhancing the Jewish homeland."

Read my latest Kol HaBirah article, "Meet Bruce Pascal: Jewish Community Leader, Real Estate Executive, Hot Wheels Collector" and watch the video interview below.