Recalling an Evil Idealist
Note to readers: I usually post my regular Ami column weekly; this past week, of course, Ami wasn’t published due to Pesach. Since I write several features for the magazine, I thought I’d take...
Why Are Torah Jews So Happy?
Over the last five years, Gallup has interviewed hundreds of thousands of Americans about their lives. On the basis of those interviews, Gallup constructed a “well-being index.” Religious people typically ranked higher than secular,...
Usain Bolt and the Jewish Problem
For those who missed it, Usain Bolt is a Jamaican sprinter who holds the world and Olympic records in the 100 and 200 meter dash. That’s the context for the following commentary posted on...
Why Did Goldstone Retract?
I’d don’t know what made Richard Goldstone issue his mealy-mouthed retraction of the central finding of the eponymously named Goldstone Report, just as I don’t know what led the respected jurist, with a Zionist...
Pesach: the Gift of the Future
At the beginning of Stumbling on Happiness, Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert speculates on the essential difference between human beings and animals. He conclusion: Only humans plan for the future. No animal ever delayed gratification...
Is Gemara Really Studied in Korea?
Not as we know it. I’ve had substantial connection with the Korean community for well over a decade. I’ve traveled there to lecture on Jewish topics, and I stay in close contact with a...
Bad Translations Make Good Ad Copy
Several months ago, Rav Matisyahu Solomon shlit”a, mashgiach of Lakewood’s famed Beis Medrash Gavoha, denounced the advertising of Kupat Ha’ir as theft — convincing those in desperate situations that all they need to do...
Black Like Us
The Chasam Sofer (Rabbi Moshe Sofer, 1762–1839) probably never saw a black person. There weren’t likely very many in 19th century central Europe. But he certainly knew they existed. After all, they are mentioned...
The Aish Kodesh to His Followers, 1939
by Rabbi Binyomin Gidon HaLevi Kelsen, Esq. Note: The following is a letter written in 1939 by the Piasceztna Rebbe to his followers before Pesach 5699 (1939). At this time, though the war had...
People With Questions Are Not Sick
Is there a new fifth column in our midst? A recent article deals with adults who have shed their emunah but have not walked out of the community. It analyzes causes, and offers prescriptions....