“Personal Torah”
A recent announcement by a respected Conservative rabbi has been trumpeted widely as evidence of his heroism. My take is somewhat different, and was published, to the periodical’s credit, by the Forward. You can...
Misplaced Zeal
The powerful swell of voices on Broadway, thirteen stories below Agudath Israel’s offices, did more than disturb my concentration. A thousand people were blocking traffic and loudly chanting in unison, the roar less redolent...
The “Shabbos App” is a Farce
It is true that the “Shabbos App” has attracted a great deal of attention and discussion. Personally, I am waiting for the prankster to come forward and explain that this was all designed to...
Why I Love Rav Shmuel – And Will Advocate Vaccination Nonetheless
There is no contradiction. Anyone who finds one has targeted a straw man. I have had the benefit of association with three generations of Kamenetskys. They have never, ever let me down when I...
What’s (Shabbos) App?
Yielding to the many who have asked for my take on the now-infamous Shabbos app, here is the quick and dirty version: It does not do what its developers say it does – “The...
Malignancies
There’s nothing remotely funny, of course, about rabid Islamists beheading innocent Westerners they have kidnapped (or their fellow Muslims, for that matter). Yet, there is something bizarrely droll about the characterization of such slaughter,...
Yom Kippur Shiur Available For Download
My annual Yom Kippur shiur is available for download. It was given earlier today to a gathering of women in Los Angeles, and comes in three sections, for reasons explained, within the shuir. The...
The Waning Strength and Influence of American Jewry – Including Orthodoxy
By Avrohom Gordimer The Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project: A Portrait of Jewish Americans created shockwaves, as the shrinkage of (non-Orthodox) American Jewry and its impact and role were ominously documented and...
Letter in NYT
To the Editor: Dr. Barron H. Lerner concedes that it was proper for medicine to abandon the medical paternalism that had doctors make “life-and-death decisions for patients by themselves,” but he asserts that doctors...
Time After Time
Ever since the famous science fiction writer H. G. Wells penned “The Time Machine” in 1895, the notion of a protagonist traveling through time by means of magic or fantastic technology has captured the...