The Terminology of Terrorism
The June 19 attack in London, in which a man plowed his van into a crowd of Muslim worshippers exiting a mosque, killing one and injuring 10, was no less heinous than attacks by...
Author: Avi Shafran
The Kotel: A Public Space, Not a Public Square
The Israeli Cabinet’s recent decision to not upend the public prayer status quo at the Kotel Maaravi, or Western Wall, was met with howls of outrage from a broad cross-section of non-Orthodox leaders and...
Agudath Israel Reaction to Kotel Plan Freeze
Agudath Israel of America released the following statement today: The Israeli Cabinet’s decision to not upend the status quo of normative, traditional Jewish religious worship at the Kotel Maaravi, or Western Wall, is a...
Make Learning, Not War
I don’t know about you, but until President Trump’s trip to the Middle East last month, I had never heard of a “sword dance.” Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, you’ll recall, were...
A Tale of Two Testimonies
“Gentlemen! Start your engines!” Or, maybe better, “In this corner, heavyweight champion…!” Neither phrase was actually blasted from a loudspeaker on either June 8, when ex-FBI director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence...
Science and Scientism
A high school science teacher in Wellston, Ohio was the focus of a front page New York Times story last week. James Sutter was subtly lionized by the report’s writer, who sympathized with the...
Agudath Israel Letter to U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley
Please click on the link below to access a PDF of a letter from Rabbi Zwiebel, Agudath Israel of America’s executive vice president, to Ambassador Haley. Letter to Ambassador Nikki Haley — 6-13-17...
The Public Image of the Orthodox Jew
A recent interview I was privileged to participate in, about the public perception of Orthodox Jews, can be accessed here.
Mortal Etiquette vs. Immortal Truth
As you may have noticed, the first day of Shavuos falls on the fourth day of the week this year. Were any Tziddukim around today, they’d be unhappy. They held that Shavuos must always...
Rabbi Nisson Wolpin, z”l: Shloshim Recollections
It was more than 30 years ago, in Providence, Rhode Island, that I received my first letter from Rabbi Nisson Wolpin, z”l. I still have it, and keep it in a safe place. For...
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