Finding a Mussar Mentor
Recently, I rejoined a morning shiur that I had attended for many years. The primary attraction was that the shiur had just started Mesillas Yesharim [Path of the Just] for the mussar [ethics] segment....
Category: Religion
Why Bother Debating?
Two weeks ago, I was invited to participate in a panel discussion for a group of post-university students from the U.S. and Canada who are contemplating aliyah. The topic was “State and Religion in...
Supporting Those who Love Us Least
Conservative Americans love Israel — and are even philo-Semitic — to a surprising extent. The examples are legion; what struck me today was discovering that David Yeagley, a Comanche Indian and creator of “the...
French Connection
The latest marchers in the long parade of horribles anxious to murder in the name of a religion of peace are two feckless young men, Ahmed Ferhani, 26, and Mohamed Mamdouh, 20, natives of...
The Helicopter Left Behind
I think that now, weeks since the mortal remains of this generation’s most reviled mass-murderer were offered to fish and crustaceans, it’s safe to bring up an important Jewish thought that should have occurred...
Agudah Statement on SF Circumcision Ban Measure
May 19, 2011 Statement from Agudath Israel of America concerning the proposed circumcision ban on the ballot in San Francisco That nearly 8000 San Francisco residents were willing to endorse the placing of an...
Roman Rite Leads to Jewish Thought
Roman Catholic rituals aren’t usually even a small part of my family’s Shabbat table discussions but a recent Sabbath meal was an exception, granted in the spirit of revisiting an ever-timely Jewish concept. The...
A Well-Trained Seal
The article below, reprinted with permission from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, was distributed by that news service to its subscribers. There is something ironic, to put it politely, about an effort championing ethics that...
Who Are We Kidding?
Among my other subscriptions, I am on the e-mail list of the World Jewish Daily, which collects news from various sources — in format, it’s probably most similar to the Drudge Report. Each day,...
Jewish Students Under Assault — Part III
In recent weeks, we have been contemplating the pressure and intimidation experienced by Jewish students on university campuses in North America from anti-Israel propaganda. In Part I, we discussed the diverse nature of the...
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