Suffering and Love
This essay was originally published in Hebrew in The Enigma of Suffering, ed.…
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Loss
How can we cultivate a language of loss? On the 9th of Av, the Jewish people honors the profound losses of our national and personal lives.
PodcastsHadas Hershkovitz: On Loss: A Husband, Father, Soldier
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we speak with Hadas Hershkovitz, whose husband, Yossi, was killed while serving on reserve duty in Gaza in 2023—about the Jewish People’s loss of this beloved spouse, father, high-school principal, and soldier.
- Essays
- Essays
How to Comfort: Three Talmudic Teachings for Our Time
“The fundamental purpose of the condolence call during shivah is to relieve the…
articles
Changes in Exile: Three Talmudic Teachings for Our Time
Our exile impacted God, Jewish society, and the Jewish People. The Talmud explains how.
articles
After My Daughter Died By Suicide, I Vowed To Help Save Lives
Gila’s Way was born out of my daughter’s death so that no one else would experience the worst possible tragedy like my family did.
articles
The Impossibility of Understanding Loss
The strangeness of death, of loss, is that no matter how many books we read, how many philosophical discussions we have, how many psychologists we speak with, how many times we experience it, it will always be elusive—impossible to understand.
articles
Losing a Friend
If being lost means the inability to find one’s way or to miss something that cannot be recovered, then the death of a friend makes us disoriented and adrift.
articles
Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits’ Complicated Portrait of Faith
Meet a traditional rabbi in an untraditional time, willing to deal with faith in all its beauty—and hardships.
articles
Fighting for My Father’s Life Was a Victory in its Own Way
After losing my father to Stage IV pancreatic cancer, I choose to hold onto the memories of his life.
articles
It’s OK That You’re Not OK: Emotional Illiteracy and the Culture of Blame
Blaming someone for their pain—whether that’s grief or some kind of interpersonal violence—is our go-to mechanism. How quick are we to demonize rather than empathize. How quick we are to move into debate, rather than hang out in the actual pain of the situation.
articles
How to Comfort: Three Talmudic Teachings for Our Time
“During the course of a lifetime, virtually no one can avoid an encounter with death. Yet it is an experience for which one is rarely prepared.” — Dr. Emanuel Rackman
articles
Passing Through Moed Katan—and Life
In one of 18Forty’s Must Reads, Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin writes how, in Tractate Moed Katan, the Talmud teaches us the only life lesson we need.
articles
The Unwinding of the Miracle: Life
“I don’t know if my words could ever ease your pain,” Julie Yip-Williams writes in a letter to her two daughters. “But I would be remiss if I did not try.”
articles
To Keep the Memory Alive
In our conversations on loss, we spoke with Josh and Dani about keeping the memories of their wife and father alive, even if they are no longer here.
articles
What Facebook’s COO Learned From Grief
In one of 18Forty’s Must Reads, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg opens up about the loss of her husband.
articles
Three Weeks To Mourn the Kibbutzim of Slaughter
After October 7, these three weeks might induct us into the grieving denied to us for the past many months.
articles
When Losing Faith Means Losing Yourself
Elisha ben Abuyah thought he lost himself forever. Was that true?
articles
Why Couldn’t I Understand This Book About War?
This award-winning novel was chaotic, scattered, and confusing. I realized maybe that was the point.
articles
Do We Know Why God Allows Evil and Suffering?
What are Jews to say when facing “atheism’s killer argument”?
articles
(What) Do Jews Believe About the Afterlife?
Christianity’s focus on the afterlife historically discouraged Jews from discussing it—but Jews very much believe in it.
articles
How Your Faith Can Survive a Crisis
We hope that our beliefs will always survive life’s turbulence unscathed. But things often play out differently when crisis strikes.
articles
What Crisis Does to My Faith
“I’m a believer,” says Zevi Slavin, a teacher and content creator exploring the world’s mystical traditions. “Times like these challenge my belief.”
articles
Suffering and Love
Rotem was diagnosed with cancer when she was three and a half years old. She died when she was seven.
Loss
On Loss: A Parent
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Dani Ritholtz – rabbi and author – about the loss of his father to further explore Tisha B’Av’s relationship to loss.
podcast
Rabbanit Rachelle Fraenkel: How Can God be Found After Trauma?
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we sit down with Rabbanit…
podcast
‘Everything About Her Was Worth It’: The Life of Yakira Leeba Schwartz…
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we talk to Yisroel Besser,…
podcast
On Loss: Defending Israel on Oct. 7
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we speak to the Perez…
book
A Grief Observed
A Grief Observed is C.S. Lewis’s honest reflection on the fundamental issues of life, death, and faith in the midst of loss. Written after his wife’s tragic death as a way of surviving the “mad midnight moments,” A Grief Observed is an unflinchingly truthful account of how loss can lead even a stalwart believer to lose all sense of meaning in the universe, and how he can gradually regain his bearings.
