An Evil Report
My D’var Torah this week made a rare crossover into current events, in a way that I thought appropriate for Cross-Currents. In this week’s reading we learn about the spies sent to look at...
Category: Jewish Media
Dangerous and Defective Products
It isn’t every year that news reports about Agudath Israel of America’s annual dinner make the pages of media like the Forward or The New York Times. This, however, was one such year. The...
Retroactive Prophecy Redux
As I expected, my critique of some recent writing of Rabbi Berel Wein has generated many comments and communications, yeas and nays. A follow-up explanation can be read here.
Leading the Blind
The results of recent Jewish community surveys are alternately delightful and dismal, exciting and excruciating. The growth of Torah-observant households is a stunning phenomenon, while Jewish sociologist Steven Cohen observed, “the sky is falling...
Retroactive Prophecy
There exists a mentality, even among some who should know better, like the respected popular historian Rabbi Berel Wein, that any one of us can, and even should, second-guess the attitudes and decisions of...
The Assault on Free Speech Creeps Off Campus
Last week we catalogued the assault on free speech on campus in the form of speech codes and pervasive political correctness. The most common reason given for the speech codes by college administrators is...
Punishing American Learning in Israel
Besides the legal changes affecting the funding for the Yeshivos, the Religion Ministry under Bennet has a few tricks up its sleeve that we don’t even know about. I just spoke with a Rosh...
The End of the Begin-ing
by Doron Beckerman The year 1977 witnessed a watershed event in the history of Modern Israel. Chaim Yavin, famed Israeli news anchor, announced the mahapach – the transformation of the political map; the right...
The Death of Free Speech on Campus
Few of us like to be exposed to opinions contrary to our own or to be challenged by facts that challenge our opinions. There is a natural temptation to suppress opinions that do not...
Bias Vs. Backbone
A sports team owner’s base racism was all the talk of the world town last week. But a more subtle – and thus more dangerous – prejudice has been on public display, too, of...
Recent Comments