Only One Path to One Jewish People
In Haaretz, Reform Rabbi Eric H, Yoffie, past president of the Union for Reform Judaism, conceded the main point of a recent piece I wrote for that paper – that there cannot be an...
Author: Avi Shafran
When I Drifted Off the Path
A piece I wrote for the Forward about my short-lived disillusionment with Judaism when I was 12 years old can be read here.
Strong and Subtle Slanders
The New York Jewish Week was understandably unhappy at the comparison that a respected Modern Orthodox rabbi seemed to make between the paper and the rabid Nazi tabloid Der Stürmer, which, from1923 until 1945,...
Pair of Pieces in Haaretz
Reform Rabbi Eric Yoffie responded to a piece of mine that appeared recently in Haaretz. The piece I had written is at http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.626373 and his response at http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.627494 I hope to offer a counter-response...
Statement from Agudath Israel of America on this morning’s massacre of mispallelim in Har Nof
This morning’s barbaric murder in Har Nof, Jerusalem of four Jews has left all caring people reeling – the tears are pouring this morning and our hearts are full of pain. This vicious attack...
Status (Quo) Update
ITEM: In the wake of the shooting in Jerusalem of political activist Yehuda Glick, allegedly by an Islamic Jihad member who was killed by police after he fired at them, and the subsequent closing...
Sefer Torah Abuse
We rend our garments if a sefer Torah is, chalilah, desecrated. If one should fall to the ground, it is customary for those present to undertake to fast that day. I don’t know what...
Ebola and Metzitza Bipeh
Part of a message from the Medical Society of the State of New York to local physicians reads as follows: “Strategies to limit the potential for [Ebola] transmission… should be based on the best...
Moral Climate Change
My pre-Sukkos column about the furious, quasi-religious zeal of some environmental alarmists apparently generated some… well, furious, quasi-religious zeal. In an editorial, the New Jersey Jewish Standard’s managing editor mocked my contention that the...
Winter High
The wishes of “git vinter!” customary in some communities after Shemini Atzeres might put some people in mind of fall’s end weeks hence, and give them a chill. Not me. I’m decidedly in the...
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