Be Alarmed
Back in 2007, at just about this exact time of year, a priest in the Netherlands city of Tilburg was fined the equivalent of several thousand dollars for ringing his church’s bells early each...
Effacing Women
Could be that I have used the verb in an improper manner. But it can’t be even remotely as improper as the phenomenon itself. I haven’t seen any really good treatments of the hugely...
Free-Market Judaism and Conversion Standards: A Response to Dr. Shuki Friedman
“We should seriously consider eliminating municipal police departments and increasing the issuance of gun permits to
Our Religion Guides our Moral Compass
A Response to R’ Ysoscher Katz by Shmuel Winiarz Call it a neighborhood nuisance. Living in Riverdale for the past several years, I have been exposed to the “Open Orthodox” movement’s personalities, views and...
Rodfei Shalom Attacked… and the Response
“Good will overpower evil, and of course, love will overpower hatred.” — Rav Aryeh Scheinberg “If a line has to be drawn, draw it around Christians and Jews; We are United.” — Pastor John...
Tisha B’Av With Faigy Mayer, o”h
An essay I wrote about Faigy Mayer, o”h,’s death, the haste with which some blamed it on her chassidic community and the importance of addressing mental health in the Orthodox community ran today in...
Say It Ain’t So, Mike
In 1990, attorney Mike Godwin introduced what became known as “Godwin’s Law,” the contention that if an electronic discussion (regardless of topic or scope) goes on for long enough, sooner or later someone will...
The Psychotic Stabber
Not that this should surprise anyone, but we now know that Yishai Schlissel was diagnosed with serious mental issues, was hospitalized for over a month — and was released from prison, three weeks before...
The Jerusalem “Pride Parade” and the Beruriah Doctrine
“May sinners (חטאים) be eradicated from the earth…” (Tehillim/Psalms 104:35). Beruriah, the erudite wife of the Talmudic sage Rebbe Meir, exposited the verse to convey not that sinners, but that sins, be eradicated. (Berachos...
Useful Tool to Combat the Iran Deal
So many people we know simply have lost the capacity to get involved in complexity and sustained argument. But they, too, can play a role in our community’s effort to beat back this existential...