Of Bishops and Golems
When a shul dates back to the thirteenth century, you have to take pains to preserve it. So you won’t find an active minyan in Prague’s Altneushul three times a day. Monday, Elul 18,...
Category: Judaism
Selichos, 1939
The smell of smoke grew even stronger as did the cries of the hundreds of Jews packed in the synagogue awaiting a terrible death. And then, a miracle occurred.
Of Anthropology and Apathy
“You have to wonder what they’ll come up with next.” With that snide introduction, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports that 20 Israeli hotels catering to an Orthodox clientele have signed a “modesty code” committing...
New Issue of Jewish Action
Long before I helped begin Cross-Currents, the place my keyboard’s output called home was Jewish Action, the quarterly of the Orthodox Union. To the credit of the OU, its leadership encouraged the production of...
The Greatest Beracha in Life
Can a quadriplegic dance? Can a thin, raspy, artificially high-pitched voice make sonorous music? I would not have believed these to be true had I not seen them myself at the Kids of Courage...
Losing the Secular Public
No Torah Jew finds it difficult to justify Israeli government expenditures on Torah education. For us, it is clear that without the citadels of Torah that all the efforts of the IDF to protect...
Haredim and Homophobia
Haredim think that the media shows a persistent and blatant bias in its coverage of the community. They are right. For proof one need look no further than the coverage of the grisly July...
For Your Name, Which Was Desecrated
The final stanza of Eli Zion, the last kinnah recited in many shuls on Tisha B’Av, reads, “. . . for Your Name, which was desecrated by the mouth of those who arose to...
Random Thoughts on the Latest Scandal
Whenever some scandal breaks involving Orthodox Jews, as happened with a vengeance last Erev Shabbos, I’m reminded of a story about Rabbi Yaakov Kaminetsky. When Reb Yaakov was Rosh Yeshiva in Torah Vodaath, a...
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