A Priest Walks into a Shul…
Have you ever been to a church service? Me neither. Still, I (and perhaps you) have an image of what one is like. And that image, strange as it might seem, is an important...
Looking for Win-Win
Eight or nine years ago, I received a visit from a kollel student in his late ’20s. The young manyoung man in question had been one of the outstanding students in one of Israel’s...
Nachlas Yosef on Rus – Shiur Available
Finding out that your fault is shared by others can be a joyous discovery. I have felt guilty for years parading out favorite divrei Torah again and again. It’s not like there is any...
Coney Island Memoirs – Affirmative Action
by Philip Lefkowitz It was the 1960s, a tumultuous time for the civil rights movement in the United States. Cities were burning, race riots where breaking out everywhere. In New York City, Mayor John...
A New Coalition for Israel: It’s Not Just About Us
Over fifty years ago, I was playing checkers with my father, a”h, on a Sunday morning. The next oldest brother in our family line-up, not yet five years old, sat on my father’s lap....
Rare Opportunity to Study the Kuzari
From the feedback we’ve been getting, the current edition of Klal Perspectives dealing with connectedness has touched many people. Besides the runaway success of Rabbi Moshe Weinberger’s contribution, two other factors have been played...
Global Worrying
I think I’ve discovered what makes me so uncomfortable about the assertion that global warming is a real and urgent problem. A front-page New York Times story on May 1 concerned (thanks, Mr. Rumsfeld,...
What the Presidency Can Tell Us About Gedolei Yisroel
A few months ago, veteran political columnist James Fallows presented two opposing views of the Obama presidency in a cover story for The Atlantic. It generated much discussion, in part because of its balance,...
Open Mouths and Open Mikes
The power of human speech made the headlines once again this month — even before the WikiLeak shocks had worn off — with two gaffes by prominent American politicians. One of Mitt Romney’s top...
Measured Insularity Does Not a Monk Make
This article appears in the current issue of the New York Jewish Week and is shared here with that paper’s permission. Haredi Jews have become accustomed to their portrayal in a variety of negative...