The Price We Pay For Contempt
A monastery in Israel is desecrated, almost certainly by nationalist extremists. The Catholic Church turns the heat on whom? Haredim! Sadly, however, I can’t be as critical of the finger-pointers as I would like...
Rosh Hashanah Thoughts From the West Coast
For the inspired, the curious, or the just-plain-bored, my Rosh Hashanah machshavah shiur entitled Plan A and Plan B is available for free download. In the old days, I was able to give many...
Missionaries and Maligners
[This is an Ami Magazine “News Commentary” piece — one of several features I write for the publication.] An umbrella group of institutions engaged in Jewish-Christian relations and the Anti-Defamation League both issued statements...
Our Wrong and Rightful Role in the Presidential Election
The noise, news, deception and demagoguery that emanate from political conventions tend to intoxicate some Americans to break out their own flags and flyers and root loudly for their guy (and against the other...
G-d Makes a Comeback at the Democratic Convention
It was a moment that was, shall we say, biblical. G-d had made it back into the Democratic platform, in a way that would have pleased the ancient prophets. The day before, the platform...
The Best Case for Obama
Three weeks ago, I wrote about the natural human tendency to avoid exposure to ideas or facts that will challenge one’s own world view. Not every refusal to expose oneself to threatening ideas signifies...
A Question of Tuition
The post a week ago called “A Question of Aliya” evoked a substantial response, all of it to the point. If there is a need for further comment on my part, it is limited...
Journalism and Sausages
Some reporters have punished me over the past few years, for doing something they don’t like—asking that they pose their questions by e-mail. Some background: As the media liaison for Agudath Israel of America,...
A Second Salvo at Obama
In his editorial last week, Ami’s editor Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter raised an important point about religious Jews’ presidential election priorities. An interview he conducted earlier this summer included assertions about President Obama that, were...
A Question About Aliya
I am writing this from Israel near the end of perhaps my one-hundredth trip. The first was in 1959. As a rule, I am here three times a year. We have an apartment in...