United in Tefillah
These are trying times, to be sure. Without trying very hard, the Orthodox world finds itself united in the way it deals with its heavy hearts and foreboding thoughts. People are all doing the...
Author: Yitzchok Adlerstein
Chumrah Done Wrong
She’s no Deborah Feldman. That makes her story so much more valuable to us. Writing in Tablet, the literary cynosure of every young Jewish iconoclast these days, Avital Chizhik lets us know that she...
A Valuable Tool For the Seder
“Guided spontaneity” might be a good description for the Seder night. What we usually recite as the first part of Hallel becomes “shirah” at the annual revisiting of the birth of our people. The...
Rabbi Twerski’s Bombshell at AJOP
I’ve fallen terribly behind in offering our readership a report on the annual convention of the Association of Jewish Orthodox Programs (AJOP). I posted one piece on Rabbi Lowenbraun’s decision to test the feasibility...
Help an Agunah – Virtually
Tamar Epstein is an agunah with an impressive list of rabbinic supporters. Her ex, Aharon Friedman, has exhausted all his legal options, both in beis din and in secular court. The divorce has been...
Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth, A Thankless Child Author
If The Atlantic’s Sandra Tsing Loh were to suddenly disappear, I would have less to rail against. Then again I would lose a favorite model of effective creative writing. I would also lose an...
The Frog and the Alter Rebbe
My first reaction was to enjoy the hilarity of it. After a few moments, I realized that it was an allegory about life – and perhaps even the existence of all things according to...
Rabbi Grylak’s Argument Doesn’t Do It For Me
Moshe Grylak, Mishpacha’s editor-in-chief, holds an honorable position on my A list. He wisely knows the limits of his readers, but often strains against them to challenge them with new ideas. His piece in...
Haredim Are Not The Big, Bad Volf
Sometimes, you have to step out of the ring to get the best view of the fight. An article in The New Republic http://www.tnr.com/article/world/100135/tk-haredim is probably the most level-headed and balanced piece you are...
New Directions in Kiruv – Part One
Kiruv is about bringing the old to the new. At last month’s annual convention of the Association of Jewish Outreach Programs (AJOP), its indomitable National Director, Rabbi Yitzchok “Itchie” Lowenbraun, staked the ranch on...
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