By Rabbi Mark Wildes A number of years back when Israel received a number of additional F-35 fighter planes from the United States, the following question was posed to Rabbi Yehuda Aviner, the head rabbi of Yeshivat Ateret Kohanim, and a brilliant halachic authority: “With God’s kindnesses, the State of Israel received F-35 Stealth Fighter Jets. Should the blessing of Shehechiyanu - the blessing of renewal be recited, or is it not recited because the fighter plane is a weapon

NOW UP ON THE TIMES OF ISRAEL By Rabbi Mark Wildes Where the Happiest People Live A new study surveying 20,000 young people from 20 different countries reveals a fascinating trend when it comes to people’s level of happiness. The study, conducted by the Varkey Foundation, called “Generation Z: Global Citizenship Survey – What the World’s Young People Think and Feel, reported that young people living in developing countries reported they were the happiest. Indonesia emerged as

NOW UP ON THE TIMES OF ISRAEL By Rabbi Mark Wildes Last week, as MJE has done for 20 years, we marched in the Annual Celebrate Israel Parade. The parade was watched by over 40,000 people and included officials such as New York Mayor Bill De Blasio, Governor Andrew Cuomo and Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon. We found love and support all around us – in our MJE community, local NYC leaders and politicians and friends and family. Besides the simple fun of strutting dow

BLOG POST: Rabbi Jonathan Feldman March 7, 2018 Most years at AIPAC there is a crisis issue swirling around in the air:  The Iran Nuclear Deal, Israel-Palestinian Peace Negotiation, a UN condemnation of Israel…  This year there was no one issue that dominated the agenda.  Yes, all of these issue are still swirling around, and will not go away soon, but there was a feeling this year that we could be at AIPAC celebrating the great story that is Israel.  And AIPAC has been doing

PUBLISHED ON THE HUFFINGTON POST By Rabbi Mark Wildes, with contributions by Michelle Soffen Dedicated to the memory of slain student Second Lieutenant Richard W. Collins III LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Black Civil War Union Soldiers from the “4th United States Colored Infantry Regiment” It’s 8:00pm. The world around comes to a sudden halt. Cars break mid highway as phones are put away and conversations paused. A nation unites in complete stillness, and for an entire minute, no sound

Rabbi Mark Wildes delivers opening remarks at Yom Hazikaron Memorial Service Yom Hazikaron/Yom Haatzmaut Event 2017: Remarks by Rabbi Mark Wildes May 1, 2017 | The Jewish Center Thank you all for joining us this evening. For those of you I haven’t had the honor of meeting, my name is Rabbi Mark Wildes of MJE and this year we are proud to combine MJE’s Yom Hazikaron/Yom Haatzamut event with The Jewish Center. I want to thank my friends Rabbi Yossi Levine and Rabbi Dovid Zirkin

Rudy Rochman blows the Shofar on Columbia’s Campus. Photo by @idost_nyc. READ FULL POST ON TIMES OF ISRAEL Megilat Esther or the Scroll of Esther is the book of the Hebrew Bible Jews will gather to read this Saturday night to celebrate the upcoming holiday of Purim. The Megilah speaks of a beautiful woman chosen to be Queen of the ancient Persian Empire who must hide her Jewish identity. Her very name, Esther or “hidden”, bespeaks the double life she is forced to lead. Esther

David Silverman / Getty READ FULL POST ON TIMES OF ISRAEL The irony of a UN resolution condemning the Jewish settlements during the holiday of Chanukah is pretty incredible. Chanukah celebrates the establishment of Jewish political sovereignty over the land of Israel, including the very areas the United Nations now claims no longer belong to Israel! Besides the spiritual victory of Jews refusing to abandon their faith in favor of Greek Hellenism, Chanukah celebrates the succe

READ FULL POST ON TIMES OF ISRAEL What ultimately makes for a good Ambassador? A good Ambassador is someone who possesses a deep knowledge and concern for the history, politics and future of both the country he or she represents and the one to which he or she serves as liaison. David Friedman, whom I have had the honor of knowing for the last several years, fits the bill. He is a proud and patriotic American, never taking for granted the opportunities this country has given h

Featured on: TIMES OF ISRAEL MK Michael Oren Speaks at MJEWATCH: Michael Oren gives a fascinating and entertaining lecture about the history and current status of the U.S./ Israel relationship. For more on the evening, check out this The Times of Israel blog post by Rabbi Mark Wildes on what we can learn from Michael Oren and the U.S./ Israel Relationship: Friday Night Lights “As a historian, I am always humbled by our general inability to predict which moments in time will o