The Seder Is A Mother
The Forward published an essay I wrote about the “maternal” essence of the Pesach Seder. You can read it here.
Author: Avi Shafran
And In Third Place…
And so the horse trading begins. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has gotten down to the nitty-gritty business of cobbling together a government coalition. Particularly attractive stallions, thankfully, will be the religious parties, the Prime...
What We Mean When We Talk About Fire Safety And Jewish Observance
An article I wrote about the blaming of the recent horrific fire in Brooklyn on Sabbath-observance appears in Haaretz here. You may need to register (free of charge) on the site to access it....
Persian Diversion
It was a tad early for “Purim Torah,” but on Taanis Esther, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zari responded to a question from an NBC correspondent by insisting that Iran cares deeply for and...
The Differences We Make
In Baltimore’s Yeshivas Ner Yisroel, in whose yeshivah gedolah I was fortunate to study in the 1970s, the custom was that each beis medrash bachur would learn during night seder with a high school-age...
A Hint of What We Daven For Daily
A wedding took place last week. The bride and groom weren’t members of Klal Yisrael, so it wasn’t a Jewish wedding. And yet, at least in a way, it was. It took place in...
Faithless Ferocity
Earlier this month, a newly-married couple and the wife’s sister, upstanding citizens and model university students, were murdered by a neighbor of the couple’s in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A heinous crime, to be...
Lichovod Purim
An article I wrote about how Purim is a celebration of how Divine irony vanquishes mortal iron, appears in the Forward today. You can read it here.
Dear Alyssa
Dear Alyssa, Congratulations on winning the Oratory Contest of the Jewish youth movement BBYO. The topic was: “If you could modify any of the Ten Commandments, which would you choose and what would your...
Sense and Centrifuges
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned speech to Congress is: a) A bald political move to shore up support for his candidacy in imminent Israeli elections. b) A misguided attempt to meddle in American...
Recent Comments