Responding to Wrath With Calm
It’s strange but true: We sometimes fail to acknowledge the most important thing in the universe. That would be bechirah, Hashem’s astonishing gift of free will to mankind. We humans are able to choose...
Category: Jewish World
Now We Can Really Daven Together
A first-person piece I wrote about the opportunities offered by davening at home appears in Forward, and can be accessed here.
Two Thoughts about You-Know-What
Surprisingly (he said with sarcasm), I’ve been giving some thought to the current pandemic. Specifically, to the unprecedented closures of shuls and yeshivos. In the absence of a prophet, no one can claim to...
Plagues Past and Present
It’s been some 700 years since the bubonic plague ravaged central Asia, killing millions of people. A decade or two later, in October, 1347, a ship from the Crimea docked in Messina, Sicily. Rats...
My Purim’s Highlight
My Purim’s highlight this year was an interaction I had with two little boys, no older than 8 or 9. The shul I attend is often visited by a number of “collectors” asking for...
Masquerading as Feminism
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I didn’t have a column in Hamodia this week, but thought I’d post a Purim-themed thought I wrote several years ago. A joyous and meaningful Purim to all!...
Stop Otherizing Haredi Jews
An op-ed I wrote about the marginalization of Haredi Jews appears at the New York Times today. It can be read here.
A Misleading Morph
I’ll never forget coming across the phrase “the Holocaust” – complete with the definite article and capitalized second word – in, of all things, a translation of the Mishnah. More unnerving still was that...
Pleasing Orthodox Political Palates
For some of us, double-edged swords don’t come more dangerous than the prospect of a Jewish president. The accomplishment would be heartening in a way, and would say much about America. But the reality...
The Guard Protecting the Shul
Security for Jewish institutions – shuls, schools, community centers and organizations – has understandably been at the forefront of many minds and agendas in recent months. Agudath Israel of America, where I serve as...
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