Religion Increases Well-Being
A friend of mine received a call the other night for a telephone survey of senior citizens. The interviewer wanted to know about his physical and emotional health – “Do you have any trouble...
Category: Judaism
Home is Where the Judaism Is
by Rabbi Naphtali Hoff The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) recently released a draft of a strategic plan that speaks to the ongoing challenge facing non-Orthodox Jews in this country. The release was...
What Would You Do? – The Israeli Version
One short, pithy description of the difference between Islamist and Israeli societies has been placed in the mouths of many speakers. One version is attributed to Hezbolah’s Nasrallah. In an interview after a prisoner...
“I Stand Tonight With Israel”
Glenn Beck gets it right… again. On George Soros, on the Arab countries that make up the vast majority of the Middle East, and on Israel. The quote above is at 20:50 and ends...
Ice Storm Insight
Most of us have paused at the fact that, at least from our limited perspective, Hashem seems to present two very different “faces”: on the one hand, He is the Merciful Lifegiver, the Forgiver of sin and Bestower of blessings; on the other, the Lawgiver.
Better Than Esperanto
Walking back from mincha at the White Shul, we passed blocks of stalled cars on Empire Boulevard, most of which were delivery vehicles for mashloach manos shepherded by harried drivers. There is just no...
Mindless Purity
Mama Jean, I realized, had sensed what the rabbis of the Talmud teach: that a person’s true character is evident in “his cup”—in how he acts when intoxicated. She had perceived Klal Yisrael.
Purim When Times Are Rough
Too many times in our recent collective memory the run-up to Purim was marred by catastrophes that were hard to ignore while trying to get into the spirit of the day. Twenty-five years ago...
Agudath Israel Statement on Brutal Murders in Itamar
March 14, 2010 STATEMENT OF AGUDATH ISRAEL OF AMERICA REGARDING THE BRUTAL MURDERS IN ITAMAR Every person with a Jewish heart—in fact every person with an unsullied human heart—feels only sorrow, anguish and outrage...
British Couple Too Traditional for High Court’s Comfort
A middle-aged British husband and wife recently lost their battle over their right to become foster parents because of their traditional beliefs about marriage and morality. Owen and Eunice Johns, 65 and 62 respectively,...
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