A World Going Ape
It’s easy to snickeringly dismiss the recent disclosure that the late hotelier Leona Helmsley not only left $12 million to her dog but nearly all of the rest of her estate – an estimated...
Author: Avi Shafran
How Jews Should Vote
Yes, Varda, there is a Jewish way to vote – or at least a genuine Jewish perspective to bring to political races like the current one for the American presidency. Some Jews would assert...
On Location
I spent most of this past week at the annual conference of the American Jewish Press Association, which convened this year in Washington, D.C. I always enjoy the yearly gathering of writers and editors...
The Missing Ethic
A reader asks why I haven’t seen fit to address ethical concerns raised by news reports about a kosher slaughterhouse/meatpacking concern in Postville, Iowa that was the subject of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement...
The Road Taken
As summer unfolds, we behold and endure graduation ceremonies – the recognition of academic milestones, the bestowing of diplomas, the conferring of awards and the delivery, to excess, of commencement addresses. Having had the...
From The Mouths of Ministers
“Tonight I humbly ask forgiveness of the Jewish people for every act of anti-Semitism and the deafening silence of Christianity in your greatest hour of need during the Holocaust.” Those words were spoken before...
What Would Hillel Say?
Once upon a time, Jews who found Judaism cumbersome simply declared the Torah obsolete and went about their lives as they pleased. They weren’t inclined to intellectual contortions. Some “progressive” Jews today, though, choose...
Baby Einstein
An amusing pair of letters to the editor appeared in the New York Times Book Review on April 13, responding to a review of a book about the science of human reproduction. Both letters...
The Egalitarianism Has Landed
My computer cautions me against fooling with certain manufacturer-determined system settings. Doing so, it warns, could create serious problems. Riskier still is messing around with Judaism’s system-settings, determined by the ultimate Manufacturer. That lesson...
Jewish Wealths
Stephen Schwarzman is a very wealthy man. And a very generous one. The CEO and co-founder of The Blackstone Group, a New York investment bank, recently made the largest unrestricted gift to any New...
Recent Comments