The Heavens Are the L-rd’s
Those of us old enough to remember July 20, 1969—when human beings first walked on the moon—recall, too, our sense of amazement over the “one small step for man” that came to mark the...
Author: Avi Shafran
Agudath Israel statement on reporting suspicions of child abuse
Agudath Israel of America has received several inquiries in the wake of misleading claims that have recently been made about our stance on reporting suspected child abusers to law enforcement authorities. We take the...
Handwriting Analysis: Science or Snow Job?
As a boy growing up in the 1960s, I became intrigued with handwriting analysis. It’s an intriguing notion, an almost obvious one: our character traits are subtly expressed in our handwriting. Every person is...
Another Breach in the Wall
For a number of years, in my role as Agudath Israel of America’s media liaison, I attended an annual gathering, each year in a different city, of Jewish periodical editors and writers. Over time,...
On the Petira of Leiby Kletzky, z”l
My apologies for not posting this early yesterday, when it was issued. AS STATEMENT FROM AGUDATH ISRAEL OF AMERICA Along with all of Klal Yisroel, Agudath Israel of America joins in deeply mourning the...
Where Less Can Be More
“Can she have a cookie with a Pentagon-K on the box?” the voice on the phone asked and, after receiving my polite but negative response (a Pentagon-K?—now the Defense Department’s in the kashrus business?...
Science, Blinded
“Just as ordinary, pig-headed and unreasonable as anybody else” was the eminent twentieth century psychologist H.J. Eysenck’s judgment of scientists. “And their unusually high intelligence,” he added, “only makes their prejudices all the more...
Lucky Loser
Contests aren’t really my thing. I don’t buy lottery tickets or wager on sports (or, for that matter, even know much about them; until recently I thought Miami Heat was, well, a straightforward description,...
Anti-Milah Activist’s Jewish Problem
Two new twists emerged in the West Coast wars against bris milah, or circumcision, recently. The bid to outlaw the practice in the seaside city of Santa Monica, just north of Los Angeles, was...
What America Gets
Many people seemed happy to treat President Obama’s speeches last month on the Middle East and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s before Congress as some sort of sports tournament, rooting and scoring and declaring winners...
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