Author: Yitzchok Adlerstein

Let’s say a person lives in Williamsburg, sports a shtreimel and long, curled peyos, and his father was the gabbai for many years in Rav Yoelish’s beis medrash. All his forebears in recent memory...

We have been fighting off an unusually heavy barrage of spam to our comments section that has been going on for about a week. In the process, it is likely that a few comments...

I am jealous of the scholarship of Dr Marc Shapiro – even when I often disagree with his conclusions. He never lets the reader down in amassing a huge amount of relevant material regarding...

All of us in the Cross-Currents community should be appreciative of Rabbi Angel’s courteous and professional manner in continuing this discussion. For readers familiar with forums that are little more than soapboxes for the...

I can’t say that I didn’t find the YES commercial insanely funny. That is not to my credit. There is so much mockery of Torah, of traditional values in the clip that by right,...

Most issues raised by Rabbi Marc Angel’s recent essay on conversion standards are not going to change the quality of your life, unless you are a candidate for conversion. One issue does, and it...

“Dog bites man is not news,” so often the good stuff goes unreported or underreported. We offer here a few anecdotes about Kiddush Hashem, and how easy it can be. Jerry Seinfeld came to...

Jonathan Rosenblum’s paean to the accomplishments and contributions of Baalei Teshuva are a fitting accessory to the Agudah Convention, which always has provided huge chizuk for the attendees. His article will certainly inspire much...

At least the comments. Those lofty goals in the title need not conflict with each other. For many, many reasons, we are going to try all of the above, by announcing and implementing new...

A heartfelt “I’m sorry” is one of the most important and effective tools of interpersonal relationships. Some forms of apology, however, border on the inane. Some – especially in regard to Israel’s conduct –...