Hashgacha Within The Embers
Part of the most recent update from the firelines by Prof. Menachem Kellner of University of Haifa may be a good illustration of the old saw that anyone who believes all the stories about...
From the Fireline
Prof. Menachem Kellner at the University of Haifa has been sending updates from the area to a list of friends. This one came in just before Shabbos began in Israel. It struck me as...
A Chanukah Primer With a Pretext
Man bites dog is news; the New York Times getting the starting date of Chanukah wrong is not news. In regard to the Howard Jacobson op-ed on the subject, everything else about the piece...
Shedding Light on Anti-Semitism
What motivates the would-be Chanukah-diminishers, I suspect, is their discomfort with Chanukah’s elemental message.
Fighting Fire With Water
Our Jewish danger-sensors must be turned on always, but our Jewish brains no less.
Teaching Emunah to Our Children
I was honored with a last-minute invitation to participate in Ami Magazine‘s Premier issue, which appeared yesterday. I responded with the following essay. In general, I like what the editors did — this original...
The Yeshiva Bochur YouTube and its Discontents
No, I don’t applaud the now-infamous YouTube– but I do not agree with much of the criticism leveled against it. To co-opt the phraseology of another writer on the topic, I am a “maximalist”...
The Lord Giveth, The Lord Taketh Away
Sometimes He does the reverse. Through His trusted servants the Palestinians, He has apparently decided to correct a historical wrong that had been shared by Jews, Christians and Muslims for centuries. All of them...
A Plea For Consistency
You had to rub your eyes in disbelief when you read the words. There, on the cover of Mishpacha, a banner used a phrase straight from the Nancy Pelosi playbook. “Caught at the Border:...
“Diplomacy in Action,” or Anti-Semitic Tripe?
“Israeli law also restricted the ability of Israeli Jews to reach places of worship in areas under Palestinian control.” This was perhaps the biggest howler of the U.S. State Department’s annual exercise in Israel-bashing,...