A Foreign Fire
Last night was the yahrtzeit, the anniversary of his passing, of Rav Zvi Elimelech Hertzberg zt”l, my wife’s grandfather. The Hertzbergs were amazing people — they took Holocaust refugees into their homes, treated them...
Author: Yaakov Menken
Will the Real Dov Lipman Please Stand Up?
Doron Beckerman’s detailed response to Dov Lipman notwithstanding, Lipman’s reaction to recent statements by Benjamin Netanyahu gives rise to more basic questions. In his guest post to the Emes VeEmunah blog, MK Lipman insisted...
Fruitful Conversations About Fruitful Continuity
by Rabbi Pesach Lerner & Rabbi Yaakov Menken In a recent editorial in The Forward (“Be Fruitful and Multiply — Please?”, Dec. 12), Jane Eisner sets aside the Pew Report’s alarming statistics regarding non-Orthodox...
An American Hero Named Elimelech
Have you ever heard of Elimelech Goldberg? Don’t worry, I hadn’t either. [Dr. Elimelech Goldstein, the volunteer medical director of Hatzalah of Baltimore, is a friend and former roommate, but that’s another story entirely.]...
The Big Bang Contradicts Physics, not Religion
Pope Francis is in the news today, for having “sided with science” and against creationists — by endorsing the Big Bang Theory. According to these articles, his statement was “revolutionary” and “embraces modern science.”...
Elon Musk Can Sleep Easier
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, was quoted yesterday comparing artificial intelligence (AI) to “summoning the demon.” “I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I would guess at...
The “Shabbos App” is a Farce
It is true that the “Shabbos App” has attracted a great deal of attention and discussion. Personally, I am waiting for the prankster to come forward and explain that this was all designed to...
Much Ado About Something
I suppose I should have realized something extraordinary was afoot when a friend messaged me on Facebook to ask if I was “okay.” I wondered what he meant, until he said that he’d heard...
Death of an Icon
I grew up watching Mork. I’ve seen Aladdin. I even, during college, watched him perform live. But I never knew Robin Williams. He was the consummate entertainer. He just knew how to make us...
When Waging War is Pursuing Peace
As Pinchas taught us, sometimes an act of violence promotes peace. At the end of last week’s Torah reading, we are told that one of the leaders of the Tribes of Israel engaged in...
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