Author: Yaakov Menken

In the wake of British Prince Harry’s poor choice of costume, a host of condemnations have poured in from around the globe. This began at home, where the Sun Newspaper (England’s largest) reacted with...

When I took high school biology, the English Peppered Moth, Biston betularia, was offered as an example of evolution in action via natural selection. Ordinarily these moths are light and mottled, and almost invisible...

While Jeff debated with Rav Reinman the virtues of forced population transfers in Israel, I was at least equally troubled — at least initially — by the use of the Palestinian “Naqba” (disaster, referring...

Jeff, I take exception to your taking exception. 🙂 1 – You are absolutely right. Anyone on the planet could do that sort of transfer, and has. The Jews of Israel, however, cannot. We...

As Joseph Schick notes, Jonathan Rosenblum pointed out here last week that calling a single incident a “phenomenon” of Jews spitting on priests is a wild exaggeration. There was no reason to call upon...

Sholom Simon argues: When some guy tries to insult another guy, he might say, “you�re not a real man.” News flash: he is not speaking in strictly biological terms. When we answer a Reform...

I’m glad you asked for a clarification on “dialogue,” Jeff. Perhaps I didn’t express it well, because, as someone put it briefly on the comments board, “Isn�t the last paragraph what got Rabbi Reinman...

Jeff is right about the label “Orthodox:” It was not “Orthodox” Jews who introduced the word “orthodox” into Jewish discussion. It was the modern “progressive” Jews who first applied the name to “old,” “backward”...

Ever since the reprogramming to send comments by email to the authors, we’ve received almost nothing but healthy debate, good posts that ought to be shared. Meanwhile — and because of that, as well...