The Missing Interviews
One of the perks (such as it is) of working for a Jewish organization is receiving unsolicited books and manuscripts in the mail. Most – like “new age” Jewish ritual guides, Middle-East manifestoes and...
Category: Judaism
FULL DISCLOSURE: Reflections on Barack Obama
Guest column by Chava Willig Levy Full disclosure: I believe that God guides history. The improbable, meteoric rise of Barack Obama offers a case in point. The facts are common knowledge: In 2000, Obama...
The Gerer Rebbe on Living with the Meltdown
His message isn’t pleasant to listen to, but the Gerer Rebbe shlit”a may have gotten the best line yet around the global economic meltdown. Others are treating the crisis with a giant Post-It Note,...
Israel as of Rosh Hashanah 5769 – Part I
Florida Congressman Robert Wexler, one of Senator Barack Obama’s leading spokesmen to the Jewish community, argues that Democrats are better for Israel than Republicans. What’s his proof?: Compare Israel’s security situation today to what...
Marriage Matters
Along with the new Jewish year we welcomed a new cycle of Torah-readings. For Californians, the first post-Sukkot Sabbath reading was particularly timely, coming as it did a mere ten days before the 2008...
Ever change your mind?
Ever change your mind after reading something? In the course of translating an essay I was stimulated to rethink a principle I once held dearly: suspicion and avoidance of large crowds. I believed that...
Hanging in the Balance
Hashem prepared us for Rosh Hashanah this year with a vengeance. The Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 8:5) on the words, “Na’aseh adam — ” Let us make Man,” describes a debate that took place in...
Hekhsher Tzedek is Not the Way to Go
What does it take to get two very opinionated writers to drop their differences and collaborate on a hot topic? A shared feeling that the topic is too important to go without comment. That...
Sukkah-Vision
The defining element of the sukkah – the temporary dwelling in which Jews are commanded to spend a week each autumn, beginning five days after Yom Kippur – is the once-growing but now detached...
Halacha Meets the Subprime Market
Being completely unschooled in the dismal science, I have nothing to say about the economic mess major parts of the very intertwined world finds itself in at the moment. In lieu of analysis, I...
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