The Differences We Make
In Baltimore’s Yeshivas Ner Yisroel, in whose yeshivah gedolah I was fortunate to study in the 1970s, the custom was that each beis medrash bachur would learn during night seder with a high school-age...
Sounding the Shofar in Adar
“The days of the elections draw nigh,” explained Maran Rosh HaYeshiva [Harav Steinman] Shlit”a, with tears on his cheek. “A person might make petty calculations and miss the moment. He can act correctly, spur...
A Hint of What We Daven For Daily
A wedding took place last week. The bride and groom weren’t members of Klal Yisrael, so it wasn’t a Jewish wedding. And yet, at least in a way, it was. It took place in...
Faithless Ferocity
Earlier this month, a newly-married couple and the wife’s sister, upstanding citizens and model university students, were murdered by a neighbor of the couple’s in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A heinous crime, to be...
Lichovod Purim
An article I wrote about how Purim is a celebration of how Divine irony vanquishes mortal iron, appears in the Forward today. You can read it here.
Learning from our Past, Building our Future (Part 2):
How Jewish History teaches us to create a positive community for tomorrow by Leslie Ginsparg Klein Generations of Jews have grappled with the same issues that face our Jewish community today. Their experiences provide...
Friends, Foes, and Charvona
When the afterglow fades, we will still be left with plenty to daven for on Purim. Why, then, do we act so stupidly when help is proffered? Many of us, this writer included, thought...
Purim – When Caution Is Everything
…Please help me keep our precious children safe. This is unchartered territory for them! Don’t let them convince you that they have everything under control. Be intrusive! Insist on clarity! Again, I will reiterate that I...
Into the Trap
In his comments to my previous post, and in a post of his own, Rabbi Slifkin forcefully advocates for secular studies at High School age, and advocates withholding support from those Avreichim who choose...
Connectedness, Neo-Chassidus and The Woman’s Challenge
By Alexandra Fleksher The Spring 2012 edition of Klal Perspectives addressed the rising concern that Orthodox Jews are feeling a disconnect to G-d, the Torah and the Jewish people. The topic has taken center...