The Talmud is a collection of ancient Rabbinic writings that constitute the basis of religious authority in Orthodox Judaism. One passage found in the Talmud tells the story of four sages who embark on a pilgrimage and enter the Orchard or paradise. According to the passage, the first sage died after entering the Orchard, the [...]

When the Jews were exiled from the Land of Israel, nearly two thousand years ago, they dispersed across many countries, fragmenting into small groups among widely divergent cultures and empires. The shtetls were settlements found all over Eastern Europe and the Baltic states where the exiled Jews lived. The word “shtetl” derives from Yiddish and [...]

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, many Americans have turned to religion and spirituality to find consolation and seek understanding. This week, we presented a lecture by Nobel Laureate and Boston University Professor of Humanities, Elie Wiesel, in which he uses the Bible story of Gideon to compare biblical precedents of responding to [...]

Before the war on terrorism, there was and still is the war on drugs. As the U.S. fights Taliban frontlines in Afghanistan, few may know that Afghanistan is the world’s largest producer of opium poppy and the provider of 72 percent of the world’s illicit opium supply. Another country, Colombia, accounts for the production and [...]