Alas, Israelis are wantonly flouting all sensible health restrictions. Just about every sector in this country has slacked off the social distancing guidelines, whether at work, at home, or play. We need rigorous government enforcement of the rules.

Rabbi Haim Sabato’s elegy for Tisha Be’Av, mourning Israel’s loss of national unity and moral priorities, translated here into English for the first time. He terms our current situation keter evion, a “pauper’s crown,” meaning sunk to rock bottom. Rav Sabato blames not only our politicians, but cultural leaders and educators too.

A Yom Haatzmaut weekend reflection on the meaning of home in grand historical perspective; on the modern Jewish, Zionist and democratic home in the State of Israel. The Jewish people indeed has come home, in every sense of the word.

A post-Pesach review of top Israeli red wines from Bat Shlomo, Binnun, Castel, Drimia, Galil, Gros, Flam, Hayotzer, La Foret Blanche, Lueria, Matar, Psagot, Ramot Naftaly, Shiloh, Teperberg, Tura, Tzora and Tzuba.

What moral lessons might people the world over draw from the coronavirus crisis? Will anybody truly be transformed by the upheavals that are underway? Might we become “better” people? Or, when the dust settles, will people revert to established patterns and (misplaced) priorities?

The capriciousness and vulnerabilities of life teach us humility, moral responsibility and reliance on G-d. Lessons from the corona crisis.

Seventeen recommended new books on Israeli and Jewish matters – on fighting antisemitism, Israel-Diaspora relations, defense policy, Jewish history, prayer, Talmud, Bible and more. Books by Annika Henroth-Rothstein, Asael Abelman, Bari Weiss, Daniel Gordis, Haim Sabato, Jack Wertheimer, Reuven Bulka, Ronen Bergman, Shalom Rosner, Shmuel Rosner, Simcha Rothman, Tevi Troy, Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Uri Brilliant, Yaakov Katz, Yeshayahu Hadari z”l and Yoni Grossman.

The IDF must return to the fundamentals: ground maneuver to achieve “hachra’a” – decisive outcomes.

Israeli democracy is not “shattering” nor are we facing the “darkest days Israel has known.” These are venal, absurd claims – spewed from the mouths of desperate politicos on the extremist fringe.

A new national security plan for the Israeli government by fellows of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS) says: Avoid risky diplomatic escapades and prepare for war.