Author: Avi Shafran
Seeing Through the Eyes of the Other
Indiana Republican Congressman Todd Rokita is calling on the House of Representatives to condemn “Nation of Islam” leader Louis Farrakhan. Most of us are familiar with the racist demagogue Mr. Farrakhan’s more memorable rantings,...
No, Mr. Lauder, Israel is not Descending into Theocracy
A piece I wrote for Forward about Ronald Lauder’s recent op-ed in the New York Times can be read here.
Tone-Deaf Jewish Marketing
I began haphazardly collecting the advertisements a number of years ago. The first, which appeared at the end of Tammuz in a Jewish periodical, touted an eatery. It was apparently aimed at carnivores troubled...
We The People, They The Elites
I’m not one to spy anti-Semites hiding under the bed. When I was a high school Rebbi, sometimes, when erasing the blackboard (remember blackboards?), I lost control of the wood-and-felt eraser and it landed...
Amusing, And, Then Again, Not So Much
You’d think it was a Purim joke. But, no, “Operation Schtickle Pioneer” is a thing. At least in one person’s mind. Did you know that a Jewish cabal is planning to make “large areas...
Surveying Some Surveys
The imbalance itself didn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has been observing the political scene in recent years, but the degree to which Democrats’ support for Israel has dropped and Republicans’ has...
Es vet helfn vi a toytn bankes
Another column of mine about Yiddish words/phrases can be read at Tabet Magazine, here.
You Know Who Isn’t Abandoning Israel?
An article I wrote for the Forward last week about American Jewry’s current and future relationship with Israel can be read here.
Habeas Corpus for Horses?
Over the years, thanks to some creative, unusual talmidim I was privileged to teach when I was a mesivta Rebbe, I have had an assortment of pets (the animal sort). Each of several Purims,...
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