The Har Nof Massacre, Knife Attacks, and BDS
Again and again, today’s purported “anti-Israel” demonstrations slip into a familiar and ugly pattern of anti-Semitic bigotry.
Category: Morality
Kalman, Vegans, and Kapparos
There is something ugly about protesting Kapparos in particular. A huge “hats off” to Kalman Groner for helping set the record straight — calmly, clearly, and as filmed by the protesters themselves.
Was Michelangelo a Philo-Semite?
Michelangelo lived at a time when the Catholic Church was increasing its oppression of Jews — but his painting of the Sistine Chapel is almost entirely drawn from the Jewish Bible, emphasizing the connection between the Church and the Jewish nation. And then there’s Aminadab.
The King and Us
One of the findings of a recent Pew Research Center report about Orthodox Jews was that for the vast majority of them – are you sitting down? – “religion is very important in their...
Anatomy of a Chumra Society
I owe a large debt of gratitude to Rabbi Karlinsky. The Karlinskys were my Shadchanim some twenty years ago, and it has worked out most satisfactorily. Consider that full disclosure preceding my unvarnished praise...
Different Problems Require Different Solutions
What more could we be doing to retain Orthodox youth, given common exposure to the Internet and other challenging environments?
Homosexuality and the Torah Community
It has been difficult for me to articulate a nuanced, “middle of the road” approach that does justice to the subject matter, proudly upholds Torah principles, and at the same time avoids writing that which will hurt the easily offended.
A Footnote on the Matisyahu Debacle
We all know what happened. Matisyahu was invited to the Rototom Sunsplash Reggae Festival. BDS Valencia pulled out the stops to ban the Jew. Rototom demanded that Matisyahu pass an ideological litmus test and...
The Non-Jewish AIPAC
My article on Christians United for Israel, CUFI, is the Ami Magazine cover story this week. We owe a tremendous amount of hakoras haTov to this community for their work supporting the Jewish community...
Double Take of a Photo Op – Pictures of Women in Orthodox Publications
If you are looking to avoid controversy, Cross-Currents is not the place for you. Continuing a recent trend of respectful internal dissent, I would like to comment ever so briefly on the issue of...
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