Chukas – The Marrow of the Matter
Our ancestors were divinely commanded to gaze at a copper representation of a snake. In order to end a plague of snakebites born of their complaint about the mon (Bamidbar 21:8). Chazal explain that...
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Korach- Schism and Stereopsis
His “eye,” not his “eyes.” That’s what Chazal point to with regard to how a pikei’ach (perceptive person) like Korach could undertake a shtus, a “stupidity” like fomenting a rebellion against Moshe Rabbeinu. The...
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Shelach Lecha – Meaningful Metaphor
In their declaration that the conquest of Cna’an will proceed successfully, Yehoshua and Calev employ an odd metaphor: The idolatrous residents of the land, they say, will be vanquished because “they are our bread”...
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Two Rabbis, Three Opinions New Episode
This time it really is three opinions. Join us as we host Dr Moshe Krakowski, a pioneer in the empirical study of issues in the Orthodox community. Although usually studying the charedi cohort, he...
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A Life Lesson
Mishpacha Magazine asked me to contribute, as part of a symposium, a short essay on the topic of a lesson I would want my children to internalize. The symposium was recently published, and my...
Chukas – The Marrow of the Matter
Our ancestors were divinely commanded to gaze at a copper representation of a snake. In order to end a plague of snakebites born of their complaint about the mon (Bamidbar 21:8). Chazal explain that...
Shelach Lecha – Meaningful Metaphor
In their declaration that the conquest of Cna’an will proceed successfully, Yehoshua and Calev employ an odd metaphor: The idolatrous residents of the land, they say, will be vanquished because “they are our bread”...
Two Rabbis, Three Opinions New Episode
This time it really is three opinions. Join us as we host Dr Moshe Krakowski, a pioneer in the empirical study of issues in the Orthodox community. Although usually studying the charedi cohort, he...
A Life Lesson
Mishpacha Magazine asked me to contribute, as part of a symposium, a short essay on the topic of a lesson I would want my children to internalize. The symposium was recently published, and my...
Preliminary Observations About the WZO Preliminary Results
There are some (pleasant) surprises, and some lessons to be learned. The results are only tentative, since thousands of votes are being challenged as possibly fraudulent. Entire slates are being challenged. Nonetheless, we can...
Two Rabbis, Three Opinions Episode 21
Is it good, bad, or both to live in a bubble? What to do when you never had to live in an echo chamber before – and now find yourself planted in the middle...
Two Rabbis, Three Opinions Episode 20
Have we become hooked on segulot? Why have they become the rage in recent decades, with no end in sight to their popularity? What does this tell us about the current state of emunah...
Emor – When Shabbos Arrives on Tuesday
The term “afilu biShabbos shel chol” – “even on a weekday Shabbos” – is from the Zohar (Korach 179), as the end of the statement beginning:“The Shechinah has never left Yisroel on Shabbosos and...
Berlin In The Promised Land
May 8, 2025 A conference was held in Berlin on September 21st 1939 at which the long-term future of Jewry was discussed…..In Berlin on April 29th, 1945, Adolf Hitler dictated his political testament….Hitler decided to die...
Acharei Mos – When Life is the Equal of Death
Faced with a forced choice between continuing to live or committing one of three sins – idolatry, murder and arayos, forbidden sexual relations – a Jew is commanded to forfeit his life. In the...