Govrov Selichos, 1939
This time of year in 1939, in a Polish town called Ruzhan, a 14-year-old boy had his plans rudely interrupted. The boy, who, fifteen years later, would become my father, had made preparations to...
Opinions Gone Wild
I’m greatly pained by much of the reaction in the Orthodox community to what has come to be called the Iran Deal. To be sure, there are elements of the agreement that are less...
Protesting in Support of International Beit Din
Do you agree with Rabbi Goldin when he says: “This isn’t a democracy, it’s a halachic process… The power to make decisions has always been in the hands of the few who spend their...
Atticus and the Yomim Nora’im
The American 1960 classic “To Kill a Mockingbird” was in the news this summer, the result of the publication of an earlier version of it, a sequel in reality, that its author, Harper Lee,...
Ultra-Orthodox Ministers Are Some of Israel’s Best
That’s not my headline, it belongs to Ha’aretz. Yes, really! Ha’aretz columnist Gideon Levy is a member of the hard left — his most recent book is entitled The Punishment of Gaza. But in...
Annual Rosh Hashanah Shiur in Los Angeles
Part of the beauty of our community is the seriousness and earnestness with which people approach a Yom Tov. Committed Jews understand that each holiday season makes different oros available to those who ready...
Different Problems Require Different Solutions
What more could we be doing to retain Orthodox youth, given common exposure to the Internet and other challenging environments?
Free Market Judaism and Conversion Standards
Rabbi Michael Broyde and I have been friends for years, maintaining the relationship despite both of us being cognizant of how often and how much we disagree. I respect and admire how much time...
Exhibit A: Us
It’s not his name but I’ll call him Yochanan, after R. Yochanan ben Zakkai, who, the Gemara tells us (Berachos 17a), was first to greet anyone, Jew or not, he passed in the street....
An Equal and Opposite Reaction
The articles about the dearth of female pictures in publications targeting Orthodox readership by Rabbis Adlerstein, Gordimer and Menken, led to many strong, passionate posts and comments, some logical, some strident, some emotional, some mean-spirited and some downright silly.