Bias Vs. Backbone
A sports team owner’s base racism was all the talk of the world town last week. But a more subtle – and thus more dangerous – prejudice has been on public display, too, of...
Author: Avi Shafran
Jungle Jurisprudence
Tommy, a resident of Gloversville, New York, filed a lawsuit in a New York state court last year against Patrick and Diane Lavery for what he claims was his unlawful detention in a “small,...
The Secular Sky Is Falling!
This article appeared under a different title in Haaretz earlier this week and is posted here with the paper’s permission. Well, it won’t be long now before Israel institutes penalties for watching television on...
The (Almost) Rude Jewish Man
Time was when you saw a person talking to himself you assumed he was deranged or at least a little off. These days, of course, prattling people wired up or Bluetoothed are commonplace. The...
Social Injustice
The following essay currently appears on the New York Jewish Week website.. (My regular weekly essays appear in the Wednesday edition of Hamodia.) It was Albert Camus’ insight that bad things often result from...
The Second Son
A Pesach-themed piece I penned for the Forward appears here Chag kasher visame’ach to all Cross-Currents readers, and all of Klal Yisrael! AS
Our Soulless Society
Back in 2005, The New York Times asked a number of contemporary thinkers what idea that is taken for granted these days they think will disappear “in the next 35 years.” Professor Peter Singer,...
Pondering the Prayer Gathering
The article below appeared last week, on March 11, in Haaretz. It is republished here with that paper’s permission. The weather in Manhattan on Sunday – a few degrees above freezing – wasn’t as...
Masquerading As Feminism
On Purim, Jewish men, to varying degrees, imbibe strong drink, and Jewish women do their best to keep them safe and anchored in civilization. The holiday thus may not seem very female-centered. But it...
Ultra-Cation
It was gratifying to see that a recent essay of mine in the Forward stimulated thoughtful responses. I had made the case for jettisoning the time-honored (if, to me, less than honorable) term “ultra-Orthodox.”...
Recent Comments