Stop an Execution
The comments I read on the first sites and petition forms that I saw left me very uncomfortable and torn. The arguments were primitive, hopelessly parochial – to the point that they struck me...
Egged and the Wheels of Justice
29bShvat 5770 Laughter broke the tense atmosphere of the Israel Supreme Court session on Thursday Feb.4 (20bShvat) when both sides, those in favor of gender-separated seating on Mehadrin buses and those against, reacted with...
Bernard Lander, ז”ל
I don’t believe that I will ever again meet anyone like Bernie Lander. I’ve met two kinds of people best described as bigger than life: those of huge vision, and those of huge accomplishment....
The Myth of Mundanity
An abrupt shift takes place in all the world’s synagogues around this time of year. Over the previous 17 weeks, since the public reading of the Torah was begun anew after the holiday of...
The Micronesia Principle
To mark the just-concluded week-long visit to Israel of the presidents of Micronesia and Nauru, I republish below a piece that appeared in Hamodia in 2004. Micronesia. A fabulous name which, if it didn’t...
Haiti and the Mind of G-d
I am not able to worship a G-d Whose ways are all crystal clear to me – attributed to the Kotzker Rebbe (1787-1859) The ways of G-d are hidden and mysterious; they have never...
A long-awaited trip to Israel
My second daughter, Tehilloh, is very excited, as in about a month, God willing, she and I will be spending eight days together in Israel. She will become Bat Mitzvah at the end of...
No Matter How Hard
Back in the days when I used to visit my parents, of blessed memory, in Los Angeles, I was once driving along Coldwater Canyon, one hand busily turning the radio dial in search of...
China, Skepticism and Belief
China used to bother me quite a bit when I was younger. A lot of people seemed to live there, but it was notoriously absent from the world view of Chazal. (At that point...