Category: Judaism
Unanticipated responses to Orthodox-Reform fissures
My entire adult life I’ve been hearing about the coming demise of the American Jewish community. The first such prediction, some 40 years ago, went like this: The Orthodox and the Reform define a...
Blaming Us for Their Problems
Those moving from America to Israel on aliyah are predominantly Orthodox, while Reform and Conservative Jews are staying put in America. Most of us would attribute this to Orthodox “willingness to pay a personal...
An Internet Tale
[Sarah Shapiro, noted Orthodox writer and daughter of literary icon Norman Cousins, would be a welcome permanent addition to Cross-Currents if I can finally talk her into it – YA – Updated Apr. 29...
Rav Moshe Zt”l on Survivors
Seldom since the years immediately following the War has so much attention been paid to Yom HaShoah, thanks to Ahmadinejad’s tirade at the UN yesterday. Few news sources resisted the irony of the world’s...
Two unusual leaders:Satmar Rebbe today and R.Tuvia Geffen 1935
I was at a study-seminar in Nahariya when I received a phone call 1 am Friday, erev Shabbat Hagadol from New York. “We have an emergency,” said one of the editors of Mishpacha Magazine....
Birchas Ha-Chamah For Litvaks, or What Happens If It Rains?
If you made it this far without doing the reading, you are probably not going to get to it before the event. For a quick and easy presentation, try the summary written by the...
Retraction II (tis the season)
My recent Am Echad Resources essay “Bernie, Sully and Me” has generated substantial criticism from many readers, including people whose opinions I deeply respect. I have come to the conclusion that that there were...
Brace For Impact — In Advance
Anyone looking for a takeaway lesson from the amazing tale of US Airways Flight 1549 would do well to ponder the striking opening line of an Associated Press piece on the episode: “Chesley Sullenberger...
Retraction
A colleague expressed displeasure with my citing a story about a call to violence by a rabbinic figure. He argued that, at least in America, he has never come across an instance of a...
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