Many people, from outside and even from inside the Chareidi community, have questioned the Torah sources regarding Bnei Torah continuing to study rather than serving in the army. There is no question, of course,...
The last week or so has not been easy. I can’t recall another state of affairs that left a huge number of Orthodox Jews elated, while another group looked on in sheer dismay. I...
“It’s the best Jewish movie I’ve ever seen, and it has no competition” — such was my daughter’s trenchant review of the awesome Megillas Lester. While that isn’t strictly true, of course (there have...
On Purim, Jewish men, to varying degrees, imbibe strong drink, and Jewish women do their best to keep them safe and anchored in civilization. The holiday thus may not seem very female-centered. But it...
[from R. Yossi Huttler, Cross-Currents’ poet laureate] KePurim if in middle of night I cannot sleep may I disturb Your peace open Your book of remembrance read to You though I know You don’t...
By Avrohom Gordimer There are times when one must take a firm stand and stake out a principled position, or deal with what may be the nightmarish consequences of not standing strong. And there...
Who’s on first? I would score this as a victory for the team that batted second. It is thoroughly in good taste. It also, ironically, leaves no room for the genuine anti-charedi haters. It...
The comments on my previous post on this subject make a number of useful points. In the aggregate, however, they do not deal with what I am getting at, namely that the gay rights...
[The clip has been removed from YouTube. Kudos to all those responsible, which includes those who realized how toxic the message was, and how counterproductive it was to the stated objectives of the atzeret...
It was gratifying to see that a recent essay of mine in the Forward stimulated thoughtful responses. I had made the case for jettisoning the time-honored (if, to me, less than honorable) term “ultra-Orthodox.”...
