How Prayer Can #BringBackOurBoys
Two recent articles have sought to demean the concept of tefilla at times of crisis like the present one. A response to the critics that I wrote for the Forward can be read here.
A Prediction Fulfilled — Sadly
Exactly one year ago, in a piece entitled “Yair Lapid Sets Back the Clock,” I predicted that Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid party would reverse a decade-long trend toward greater chareidi integration in...
A (for now) Final Post About Jewish Authority
I received much feedback concerning a piece I posted here several weeks ago (here) and a follow-up on my personal website (here), about second-guessing or disparaging the decisions of Jewish religious leaders. A pertinent...
The Agudah Dinner – The More Important Issue
Great attention has been paid to the recent Agudah Dinner, an unusual circumstance arising from the publicity given to the speech of the Novominsker Rebbe and the failure – if that is an appropriate...
Guess Who Came to Dinner?
Did a Frothing Press Help Serve the Truth? According to those in the know, Mayor Bill de Blasio was to have delivered his greetings and departed with his press entourage before the Novominsker Rebbe,...
Of Peoples… and People
Commuting to and from Manhattan daily on the Staten Island Ferry brings me into the vicinity of many a tourist. The boat sometimes resembles a United Nations General Assembly debate, without the translators. When...
An Evil Report
My D’var Torah this week made a rare crossover into current events, in a way that I thought appropriate for Cross-Currents. In this week’s reading we learn about the spies sent to look at...
Please Pray and Learn
If you don’t know, three Israeli students in a Yeshiva High School were apparently kidnapped on Thursday night. Their names are Yaakov Naftali ben Rachel Devorah, Gilad Michael ben Bat Galim, and Eyal ben...
Why Kids’ Clothing Harms Women
Why? Well, I can’t claim it makes sense. My impression is that if you’re The Forward, everything oppresses (Orthodox) women. As acknowledged by Footsteps, an organization helping people leave the “ultra-” Orthodox community, women...
Walking to the End
by Yaakov Rosenblatt One year ago, on June 14, 2013 daredevil Nik Wallenda crossed the Little Colorado River Gorge, in Rocky Mountain, CO, walking high above the span on a two inch cable. The...