Author: Yitzchok Adlerstein

Cross-Currents is trying hard to stay out of the political arena. Not that its contributors think that “politics” is outside the arena of Torah commentary. My guess is that every contributor to this blog...

Dostoevsky used to say that Russians imbibe anti-Semitism with their mothers’ milk. Despite the terrible things it portends for our brethren in the FSU, I was somewhat underwhelmed by the news that the RussiState...

Only anti-Semites believe that Jews control the world. Yet anti-Semitism itself has choked and strangled the progress of nations. Writing in the June issue of Commentary, Paul Johnson calls anti-Semitism an irrational disease that...

Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch’s famous essay on teaching about science remains, as most of our readers know, at the center of an ongoing controversy. That controversy focuses on the final argument of the essay,...

Yaakov Menken’s recent postings (which I just saw, having returned from my son’s wedding and related festivities) set off a cascade of inner reactions. If you are at all a public figure here in...

Just when I thought we were ready to move on beyond all the Siyum stuff, I’ve found something new to complain about. Some of the observers of the Garden event who hailed from beyond...

As official Jewish spokespeople weigh in on the new Pope, I find their analysis comes up short for my tastes. Most concentrated on his membership in Hitler Youth (forgivable- it wasn’t his choice; there...

Some time ago, we reported the about-face of one of the most vocal proponents of atheism in modern times. British philosopher Anthony Flew announced that he had grave misgivings about his stance of many...

The last days of the Pope contrasted with the circus surrounding the tragic end of Terri Schiavo. The Pope, who had made so many more meaningful, dramatic gestures in his lifetime, made an important...