Bricks for Bombs
A driver, reportedly shouting an Islamic slogan, rammed a vehicle into pedestrians in the French city of Dijon last Sunday, injuring twelve people. Understandably, the attack (and several subsequent ones in France) brought back...
Author: Avi Shafran
Letter in NYT Book Review
A slightly edited version of the letter below appears in the current New York Times Book Review: Editor: In reviewing “Living the Secular Life,” Susan Jacoby misunderstands the argument of those who maintain that...
Leaf Bag Lesson
An aroma all but absent these days but deeply evocative of childhood to many of us who grew up before pollution laws is the bouquet of burning leaves. Back in the day, we would...
Candles and Candor
A non-Orthodox writer recently reached out to ask if I would participate in a panel discussion about Chanukah. The other panelists would be non-Orthodox clergy. While I cherish every opportunity to interact with Jews...
Punditry With Prudence
“According to you,” a reader wrote me privately about a recent column that appeared in this space, “we can’t make any conclusions, because of the unknowns.” The column, titled “Unknown Unknowns,” pointed out how,...
A Halachic Query of Jordanian King Abdulla II
Dear King Abdullah, I’m quite sure you don’t remember me. I was part of a sizable group of Jewish leaders, clergy, politicians and organizational representatives whom you, along with the Center for World Religions,...
Unknown Unknowns
Should you ever find yourself in an ornate, high-ceilinged room with a military-uniformed classical string ensemble segueing from a flawless rendition of a Bach concerto to an equally impressive (if less inspiring) version of...
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...
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,...
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