Purim in the Air
Not 70 years since the Holocaust, we remain the same boogiemen, scapegoats and plotters that we were in the fevered imagination of moronic medievals.
Author: Avi Shafran
The Silicon Emperor’s New Soul
But we are neither wallabies nor Watsons. We don’t just feel; we emote. We don’t just compute; we conceive. We don’t just act; we choose. Our reflections in a mirror mimic us too. But they’re not us.
The Cultural Jew Within
Are our observances truly religious, or do they sometimes devolve into rote?
Scandal Upon Scandal
invoking an “Agriprocessors scandal” to justify some need for an extra-governmental “ethical certification seal” is cynical opportunism, a scandal upon a scandal.
Pundits on Pluto
Mr. Kristof thinks that “the protesters have a point” about initial American “equivocation” over the rebellion in Egypt, though he allows that “maybe I’m too caught up in the giddiness of Tahrir Square.” Yes, maybe.
Thank You, Dr. Murray
Writer and educator Dr. Erica Brown penned a thoughtful piece for the New York Jewish Week on January 25, in which she addressed the concept of Jewish peoplehood. “The niggling tension of Judaism as...
Swearing off the “U” Word
Does affirmation of the Jewish religious heritage… make haredim “extremist”? Considering the other candidates for that word today?
Messages in the Mayhem
You’ll log many a mile to find someone more disapproving than I am of the anger and vilification that characterize so much of American political discourse. But to lay the tragic January 8 shooting...
Jewish Traits Gone Bad
I have long suspected that the Jewish stereotypes invoked by comedians, impolite pundits, and anti-Semites contain some grain of truth. After all, even a powerfully positive middah, or personal trait, can, if mangled or...
Getting a Second Opinion
We are all poorer for not realizing that greater gain is to be had from meeting another point of view than from exulting in having one’s own opinions duly seconded.
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