Loss and Legacy
Like so many of his generation in Europe, he had an all too short childhood. At the outbreak of the Second World War, when he was 14, he found himself, along with his family...
Author: Avi Shafran
I Abstain from the Outrage
True or False? 1) The U.S. abstention to the recent U.N. resolution was the first time an American administration declined to veto a Security Council resolution critical of Israel and opposed by her. 2)...
A Window into the Past
It’s barely visible. Taped to the inside of the front bay window of a neat, modest house on a nondescript street in Toronto is a photocopy of a spoon. The window, off the living...
Misguided Magical Thinking
We tend sometimes to lose ourselves in the turmoil of our efforts, and we begin to think, in the backs of our minds (or, worse, even in their fronts) that our actions per se directly bring about the results that follow.
Harassment, Hijabs and Hoaxes
Widespread reports over the weeks since Election Day of harassment and hateful graffiti aimed at minorities reminded me of something the legendary Agudath Israel of America leader Rabbi Moshe Sherer, z”l, taught me, the...
School Choice: Response to a Forward Editor
An article of mine responding to Forward contributing editor Jay Michaelson’s lament over the appointment of Betsy DeVos as the nation’s next Secretary of Education appears in that paper, accessible here.
The Boys Who Cried “Anti-Semite!”
The sobbing of some political liberals, including, of course, many Jews, that ensued after the presidential election results were tallied has turned into wild wailing with the appointment of Stephen Bannon as senior counselor...
A Glimmer of Light in a Dark Campaign
Well, we’ve all had sufficient time by now to recover from the year-and-a-half-long national convulsion that passed for a presidential campaign. Might there be something positive to point to in an experience most of...
Ripe Citrons and Ruby Slippers
On the first day of Sukkos, after tens of thousands of Jews had paid princely sums for flawless specimens of a particular citrus fruit, payments were made by others, too, for a very different...
Kotel Krusade
An op-ed of mine about the recent disruption at the Kotel engineered by non-Orthodox Jewish clergy and an Israeli feminist group appeared in Haaretz. It can be read at: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.750731?=&ts=_1478444374594
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