Reciprocity and Specialness
Several readers of my recent post on interfaith conversations raised the issue of reciprocity. If we find that people are ready to listen to us when we share our Torah values and perspectives, is...
Category: Interfaith
Synagogue 3000: The Future of Judaism to be Found in Churches
The folks at Synagogue 3000 are at it again. Last year, Pastor Rick Warren was invited to LA’s Sinai Temple following a “ground-breaking meeting with Synagogue 3000.” This year, the headline says it all…...
Three Approaches to Dialogue
R’ Meir Soloveichik, always a source of food for thought, offers some gourmet nibbles in the current issue of Commentary (subscription only; not online). In what is ostensibly a book review, Soloveitchik offers some...
Why We Remember – The Contemporary Relevance of Parshas Zachor
The essay below is adapted from the drasha (semon) delivered last year on Shabbos Zachor (3-11-06) at Congregation Shomrei Emunah in Baltimore, MD. A most fascinating news item was brought to my attention earlier...
Jewish Action
A new issue of Jewish Action, – the OU’s glossy quarterly – hit the stands last week. A confluence of factors leads to this unabashed plug. Of course I’m biased. I’m on the editorial...
The Virtue of Struggle
There is something quite shocking about the Rev. Ted Haggard scandal. But it’s not what you might think. The allegations leveled against Rev. Haggard are obviously salacious, but in today’s world, unfortunately, they are...
Winning Friends in High Places
Just how hard should Jews work to build relationships for a rainy day? A little-known work of the Ralbag may hold a clue to the answer. Many of us have heard the stories about...
Do We All Believe in the Same G-d? Do Muslims?
Back in the old days, America’s religious checkerboard came in only two colors – Jewish and Christian. This was never true, of course, but we liked to think it was. The perception left room...
Kazakhstan 2, Baron Cohen 0
As if the Pope’s remarks were not enough, Sacha Baron Cohen’s new movie is poised to precipitate yet another international crisis. Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev plans to bring up Cohen’s Borat character, a bumbling...
Also Sprach Zarathustra
You learn something every day. Yesterday I learned that Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times doesn’t daven shacharis (the morning prayer). How else could you explain what she wrote about the disappearing Zoroastrians?...
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