Making the Cut
It was the very beginning of 1942 and the group of ten young men and their yeshiva dean, exiles in frigid Siberia, couldn’t believe their eyes. Betzalel Orlanski had somehow gained release from the...
Category: General
Maimonides’ Microscope
In its purest form, the human spirit of inquiry is a holy thing. According to the renowned 12th century Jewish thinker Maimonides, nothing less than the Biblical commandment to love G-d is fulfilled when...
Finding the Silver Lining in the Meltdown
The global meltdown of financial markets guarantees that money – and our attitudes to it – will dominate public and private discussions for some time to come. Some of the consequences of the loss...
Momentous Moments
The weeks before a presidential election provide spiritual fodder for the week between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Throughout political campaigns, candidates and their handlers are keenly aware of the great toll a simple...
Coming to Judaism
Dear Cross-Currents Readers, I apologize for inflicting this essay (albeit in a different form) on you once again. But C-C has asked me to share this version of an article that, as originally written,...
Thoughts for Elul
In Elul, we each have to search for inspiration – an idea to focus on, a model to which we can aspire – wherever we can. Anything that wakes us up, scares us a...
No Hekhsher, Not Tzedek
(The Jewish Observer, September, 2008/Elul 5768) According to Chazal (Nedarim, 40a), ideas that on the surface seem entirely constructive can in truth be quite the opposite. A contemporary case in point is the effort...
Be Forewarned: Non-Posted Posting!
I received a good amount of mostly encouraging feedback on my lengthy “Oversize Posting” of last week, and several suggestions that I reformulate the essay for a non-believing reader. I have indeed done that,...
Untruth in Advertising
Thanks all the same but no, I’d prefer my next party not be “the talk of the town.” The advertisement promising town-wide tittering over my gala affair was for a Jerusalem hotel, and appeared...
Be Forewarned — Oversize Posting!
This is an unusual posting for this venue, no obvious relative of the short essays I post weekly. Clicking on “more” below will take you to a long article I worked on over the...
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