Vayishlach – Laws of Nature and of Human Nature
“As surely as I have established My covenant with day and night – the laws of heaven and earth – so will I never reject the offspring of Yaakov…” (Yirmiyahu 33:25-26) There are...
Category: Jewish World
Chayei Sara — What’s in a Non-Name?
A riddle I like to ask people is how many times Eliezer’s name is mentioned in parshas Chayei Sara, where his being charged with finding a wife for Yitzchak and his mission’s success are...
The Charedi Vote Will Fizzle
That may be the safest prediction anyone could make – a sign of my cowardice. I will be more than happy to find out that I am wrong. But it has been this way...
Parshas Beraishis – Of Sons and Suns
It is said in the name of the Vilna Gaon that the essential meaning of any given Hebrew word lies in the word’s first appearance in the Torah. A traditional hope declared by...
The NYT’s Blatant, Ugly, Bias Against Hassidim
A piece I wrote for Haaretz that appeared right after Yom Kippur can be read here. A PDF copy of the piece can be requested at [email protected] And my Sukkos-themed most recent Ami column is here....
Parshas Ha’azinu – The Secret, Unveiled
Although I appreciate most humor, even jokes about Jews, I have always found comedian Alan King’s wry summary of Jewish holidays, “They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat!” profoundly unfunny. Not that...
Yeshiva University and YU Pride Alliance
In an effort to force the hand of Yeshiva University president Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman and the YU administration to grant undergraduate club status to YU Pride Alliance, over 1600 students, alumni and professors...
Newsweek: The Gray Lady’s Yellow Journalism
A pair of Jewish writers decided to engage in deliberate incitement, using stereotypes, exaggerations, and generalizations to portray Hasidic Jews as foreign, money-grubbing, incapable of independent decision-making, and worthy of the hatred directed against them.
NItzavim – The Holy Land Has a Name
“Hashem… will return and gather you in from all the peoples to which [He] has scattered you… and He will bring you to the land that your forefathers possessed and you shall possess it…”...
Imagining My Unmet Grandfather’s Last Thoughts: A Grandparents Day Musing
Dark-eyed, long-bearded and posing in rabbinic cap and garb, my maternal grandfather looks down at me from within his cherry-wood frame over the desk where I write. We never met; he died 16 years...
Recent Comments