Category: General

Yesterday, 14 Shevat was the yahrzeit of R Aryeh Kaplan z”l, one of the most important teachers of Torah in the 20th century, and a huge influence on my early life. I would not...

Tablet Magazine recently ran two pieces I wrote about Yiddish words/phrases. They can be read here and here.

The assertion of Modern Orthodoxy’s rightward shift is often swallowed as fact. No one really knows too much about this shift, other than observing some young post-high school men and women who return from...

From Israel, a different chunk of the globe falls within easy travel range to the former American. Should someone have a reason or predisposition to visit Europe, frequent and cheap flights make many cities...

Then there is the one about the Russian ticket collector who accosts a Jew in one of the train cars. “What makes Jews so smart?” “Herring,” responds the Jew. “How much do you want...

By Alexandra Fleksher Does America really want another celebrity president? Yes, as long as it is Oprah. Oprah Winfrey is as beloved as they get as a role model and source of guidance to...

By: Chayi Hanfling A recent post to Cross-Currents questioned whether sexual harassment or adultery is worse. It then posited that since the left excuses all sorts of sexually sinful behavior they have no right...

(This article first appeared in Times of Israel.) In Saying Kaddish for American, Non-Orthodox Judaism? Rabbi Todd Berman argues that we should not prematurely accept the disappearance of the non-Orthodox Jewish movements in America. For despite...