“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...
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...
“Are we alone?” asked the oversized headline of a full page ad in the New York Times last Tuesday. “Now is the time to find out,” it answered itself. The open letter that followed...
The Forward has published a column I wrote in response to two earlier ones in that periodical that blamed Orthodox Jews and teachings for the terrible crime in Yerushalayim last week. It can be...
Lisa, I am very disappointed and personally hurt by your words directed against me. You and I have communicated before. We are in agreement on many issues, and have always been amicable with regards...
Although we are now occupied with far weightier issues than a recent illegal lion hunt – issues such as the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, and acts of killing and assault by deranged/incredibly misguided zealots, along...
First things first: I learned while preparing this that one of the victims of today’s stabbing in Jerusalem is unstable and in critical condition. Whoever he or she may be, and I hope we’ll...
by Rabbi Pesach Lerner When Israel’s Minister of Religious Affairs, David Azoulay, recently appeared on Galei Zahal Radio to address Jewish conversion and religious standards in Israel, media and political figures picked up on...
With much joy and gratitude to Hashem, Agudath Israel of America warmly welcomes the announcement that Jonathan Pollard will be released on parole November 21, 2015. Agudath Israel has advocated over the course of...
by Rabbi Nahum Spirn אֵיךְ נָפְלוּ גִבּוֹרִים – How the mighty have fallen. These words, spoken by King David in his eulogy for King Saul, seem to apply oh-all-too well to you, R’ Herzl....
