Last week, I fulfilled a long-held desire – to visit the ruins of the Jewish cemetery in Sochaczew, a town some 40 miles west of Warsaw. With a Jewish population of over 3000 prior...

I don’t know, but I sure hope so. That way I can hype a new weekly shiur on a sefer very close to heart: Nesivos Shalom. I don’t fully understand why people don’t just...

It is remarkable that the staunch defender of middle of the road American Judaism, the prim and proper Hadassah Magazine, would do a positive interview with John Hagee (October, pg. 32; not yet online)....

Dancing this past Simchas Torah to Toras Hashem Temimah, we arrived at the words “eidus Hashem ne’emanah, machkimas pesi” and the following occurred to me: Elsewhere, the possuk defines a pesi as a “ma’amin...

A little-known rabbinical source explores the relationship between Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkos: Said Rebbi El’ozor ben Meriom: why do we make a sukkah after Yom Kippur? To teach that since on Rosh...

The historic bargain linking American Jewry and Israel since the founding of the State is coming to an end. The terms of the deal were unspoken, but clear: Israel would provide American Jews with...

Despite the post-Yom Kippur, pre-Sukkos euphoria which I hope is enveloping all our readers, last week’s thread on the Holocaust weighs heavily. I have often wondered whether our own community’s playing fast and loose...

Of all the silly sentences produced by American pop culture, my personal choice for silliest is Erich Segal’s, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” (Who but a Yale professor could have written...

Once again, official travel regulations are on the side of the observant traveler. Stephanie Stoltzfus, the Manager of the External Compliance Division in the Office of Civil Rights and Liberties at the Transportation Security...