“Their Souls Are Screaming Out For What You Have”
Unlike many New Yorkers I know, I do not have an easy time listening to Michael Savage. I squirm when caught in a car in NY when the driver tunes in to his show....
The New Israel Fund’s Israel Problem
Several weeks ago, an activist for disabled children, “Shlomit,” attended a seminar conducted by the New Israel Fund. She self-identifies as “left-wing, Zionist, and religious,” and she supports criticism of Israel. But she was...
The Price of Exclusion
“Whatever happened to ahavas Yisrael?” an acquaintance recently demanded to know. While I sometimes doff my defender-of-the-faithful hat at the gym, I assumed he was talking about Emmanuel and dutifully trotted out all my...
The Real Road to Jewish Unity
What most violates the ultimate oneness of the Jewish People are multiple definitions of the word “Jew” – what results from a smorgasbord of conversion standards.
Arafat’s Legacy Lives!
Bill Clinton has said that one of Yasser Arafat’s biggest mistakes in their conversations was trying to convince him that there never was a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem – that it had stood instead...
Honoring the Badge
The piece that follows is an exceptionally cogent and heart-felt presentation of some of the multi-tiered tragedy of abuse in our community. The incidence of abuse is tragic; the efforts to silence victims is...
Angels in the Dark – A Mood Piece for Tisha B’Av
While all of us are conscious of the loss of the beis hamikdosh yvbb”a as the underlying cause of all natioal tragedy in the last two millennia, many of us still react most deeply...
Middah K’Neged Middah
There exists an eerie parallel between the treatment of Israel by the international media and the treatment of chareidim in the Israeli media. Within two days of the Gaza flotilla incident, videos showing the...
Coercion in the Name of Liberty
Orthodox opposition to changing the legal meaning of matrimony in order to suit the Zeitgeist is not intended to, and does not, limit anyone’s religious rights.
“I see all these Sephardi names!”
I am amazed. Larry Derfner has written many articles about Charedim — usually reflecting his left-wing opinions, in religion as in politics. Four years ago I wrote a two–part essay on “Fisking Larry Derfner,”...