Anti-Milah Activist’s Jewish Problem
Two new twists emerged in the West Coast wars against bris milah, or circumcision, recently. The bid to outlaw the practice in the seaside city of Santa Monica, just north of Los Angeles, was...
What America Gets
Many people seemed happy to treat President Obama’s speeches last month on the Middle East and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s before Congress as some sort of sports tournament, rooting and scoring and declaring winners...
Gemara on Abuse and Leaving the Derech
Maybe. I’m running a bit ahead of myself in the Daf, which means that when I run into issues and observations, I have no one to run them by. Perhaps readers will keep this...
Finding a Mussar Mentor
Recently, I rejoined a morning shiur that I had attended for many years. The primary attraction was that the shiur had just started Mesillas Yesharim [Path of the Just] for the mussar [ethics] segment....
The Decline of Particularism: Fatal Flaw For Jewish Survival
We should not sound triumphal in pointing to the fatal flaw in Daniel Gordis’ important, powerful, and incisive article mourning the abandonment of Israel by young rabbinical students. His error is more excusable and...
J Street’s Interesting Friends
One of the first pieces of advice given to investigative journalists is: Follow the money trail. That dossier has now been prepared for J Street, which bills itself as a pro-Israel, pro-peace organization. For...
Only in Israel
We have something in Israel that I think exists no where else in the world. It is Hebrew Book Week. Instituted in 1926 in Tel Aviv, today it has grown to dozens of open-air...
Why Bother Debating?
Two weeks ago, I was invited to participate in a panel discussion for a group of post-university students from the U.S. and Canada who are contemplating aliyah. The topic was “State and Religion in...
Call Me Informant
I snitched on some fellow Jews not long ago. To a government agency yet. It did leave a strange taste, but I think it was the right thing to do. What prompted my unprecedented...
Bored at a Meeting? Make a Kiddush Hashem
How to distract yourself during boring meetings depends on ever-shifting expectations of corporate etiquette. The ubiquity of handheld devices has made it easier – and in many places, more acceptable – to show less...