Iranian Elephant
“Whatsa matter, you don’t like the other one?” That was what an old-time comedian claimed his mother-in-law said when she saw him wearing one of the two neckties she gave him on his birthday....
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Even the days associated with the Shoah have become nightmares. In recent times, Jews have been uninvited from Holocaust remembrance ceremonies, in deference to Muslim requests. Anti-Semitic acts have skyrocketed in Europe, and a...
A French Philosopher’s Ode to the Kipah
Good writers get it the way the rest of us can’t. It is a joy to read how a leading French intellectual, Bernard-Henri Levy, understands and presents the yarmulke in imagery that is fresh...
Shlomo Yehudah Rechnitz’s Powerful Jeremiad
It’s gone viral. We’re calling attention to it because it is so important that we would like to do our share of publicizing what should be read by everyone. Let no one say that...
Weekly Digest – News and Essays In and Out of Orthodoxy – Week of Parshas Yisro 5776
A Tribute to My Rebbe: Rav Abba Bronspiegel, Shlita Rav Refoel Shmulevitz Zt”l “My Job in This World Is to Teach Torah” Masorah and the Role of the Jewish Woman – Transcript of Rav Twersky’s...
Torah Scrolls Grow on Trees… well, almost
What do you do when your Tu Bishvat trip to plant trees is cancelled because there is a wind storm, rain, and freezing weather in Israel – as is happening as I write this?...
When One Man’s Kiruv Success Is Another’s Misrepresentation of Torah
Don’t argue with success, they say. Especially success born of fierce devotion to a noble cause. Why would anyone who values Torah throw up obstacles in the path of a charismatic teacher of Torah,...
Interview on Open Orthodoxy
The Israel Broadcasting Authority wanted both sides of the Open Orthodox story. This was the “other side.”
The Shabbos Blizzard – Holding Down the Urban Fort
As I trod for several blocks through a few feet of snow and over waist-high snow banks, heading to Shacharis and then again to Maariv at K’hal Adath Jeshurun (KAJ/”Breuer’s”) in the face of a fierce...
Parshas Yisro – Messaging Tips from Heaven
Contemporary society does an absolutely awful job at communicating. Despite possession of the most advanced communication tools ever known, modern man would earn an F in Interpersonal Communication 1.0, were there to be such a course...