Our New Design
Yes, you’ve arrived at the right place, though it now looks a little different. Cross-Currents now has a different theme, the first significant redesign since our launch five years ago. [The new design is...
An Afternoon with Alan Dershowitz
The national convention of the Jewish Law Students Association came to town, and I had the opportunity to speak several times, both at the opening banquet at the Museum of Tolerance, and later at...
Stop an Execution
The comments I read on the first sites and petition forms that I saw left me very uncomfortable and torn. The arguments were primitive, hopelessly parochial – to the point that they struck me...
Bernard Lander, ז”ל
I don’t believe that I will ever again meet anyone like Bernie Lander. I’ve met two kinds of people best described as bigger than life: those of huge vision, and those of huge accomplishment....
The Micronesia Principle
To mark the just-concluded week-long visit to Israel of the presidents of Micronesia and Nauru, I republish below a piece that appeared in Hamodia in 2004. Micronesia. A fabulous name which, if it didn’t...
A long-awaited trip to Israel
My second daughter, Tehilloh, is very excited, as in about a month, God willing, she and I will be spending eight days together in Israel. She will become Bat Mitzvah at the end of...
No Matter How Hard
Back in the days when I used to visit my parents, of blessed memory, in Los Angeles, I was once driving along Coldwater Canyon, one hand busily turning the radio dial in search of...
China, Skepticism and Belief
China used to bother me quite a bit when I was younger. A lot of people seemed to live there, but it was notoriously absent from the world view of Chazal. (At that point...
A Seamless White Cloak
by Doron Beckerman The success of the holy enterprise rested on the broad shoulders of the seasoned prophet. This was to be the climax of the Exodus, the end of the Redemption, the return...