Jewish Gene-ius
Jews are smarter than everyone else. This is the opening premise of an explosive study released last week, and given extensive coverage in the New York Times and the Economist. There is no cause...
Category: Jewish World
Viennese Pastries vs. Pickled Herring
On May 30 I posted below some sketchy thoughts (“American versus Israeli haredi sector”) I had in my initial reaction to a Jerusalem Post op-ed by Elliot Jager “American haredi triumph” . There were...
Yom HaShoah
Every year, I mark Yom Hashoah by discussing with my 12th grade Jewish history students (Bais Yakov of Miami) why we don’t do Yom Hashoah. The discussion is slightly subversive, in that by having...
Wendy Shalit and her critics
Two weeks ago, Wendy Shalit had a much-discussed article in the Sunday NY Times Book Review, decrying the way Orthodox Jews are routinely pilloried in modern Jewish-American fiction. One of the writers she mentioned,...
Kiddush Clubs
The Orthodox Union dedicated last Shabbos to a national campaign to oust so-called Kiddush Clubs from shuls. In the past, Rabbi Heshy Billet, when he was president of the Rabbinical Council of America, also...
Do chareidim use their heads?
In my 300-page book about the Slifkin affair, of which only a few pages will ever be written, I said that I would try to answer a few questions. Two that I want to...
My 300-page book: the NY Times and the Yated
The other day I promised to write a 300-page book about the Slifkin business. Chapter 1 explained why I have not yet written it and probably never will. However, I will try to write...
My 300-Page Book on the Slifkin Affair
Chapter One: Why I haven’t written it yet Every day someone forwards me another little dig from the blogosphere about the conspicuous silence of Cross-Currents regarding the Slifkin business. The writers assume that we...
L’affaire Slifkin
Many, many people in the blogosphere have challenged Cross-currents to comment on the letter of the Roshei Yeshiva, shlit”a, regarding Nosson Slifkin’s books. The challenge, in my opinion, is inappropriate. Cross-currents, at least in...
Change ‘R Us
Frustrated raconteurs like myself eagerly seize opportunities to tell a treasured story. I am, therefore, much indebted to Shawn Landres for his comments to Toby Katz�s post. They have given me all the excuse...
Recent Comments