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...
Spaced Out
“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...
Some Thoughts on the Post-Stabbings Ortho-Bashing
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...
J’Accuse. You Have Hurt Me, Lisa
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...
Lion Hunting and Torah Teachings
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...
Bigotry Watch
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...