Making the Torah Real
Two students in one of Jerusalem’s high school seminaries came to interview me last week for a documentary about how to internalize one’s Torah studies. I was impressed both the seminary’s sponsorship of such...
Blowing the New Kashrut’s Cover
“Oy,” some progressively clean-shaven clergymen are probably thinking, “Popper’s blown our cover.”
Turning Poetry Into Torah
Very few people can take a secular poem and turn it into a successful limud. Most who would try would have little worthwhile to say. They would use the poem as a source only...
Whatever Your Politics
Whatever your stance on the abortion debate, no decent human being can fail to be repulsed by the story: “Baby Trashed After Botched Abortion.” Apparently the doctor didn’t show up in time to abort...
Can an AAA support Shas?
Tu Bishvat,eve of Israeli elections. About seven years ago a journalist colleague confronted me during a coffee break. “Are you a Neanderthal? How could you support the Shas party?” I invited her to come...
My First Rebbe
Armed with my backpack and the Let’s Go Guide to Israel, I descended from the intercity bus at Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station, planning to spend a few days exploring the city for the first...
Unbearable
“Look… This child awaits his turn. Watch their humiliation. They are corpses, Allah be praised…”
Controversy at the Vatican: The Fuller Story
[The following piece contains a long consideration of beliefs of other religions. Some of our readers are uncomfortable with such material. They are hereby warned to skip to the next post. The piece is...
Still Nervous
President Obama is now safely sworn in. Even the few curmudgeons left who have not been completely won over by the new president felt a surge of pride in their country as they watched...
Rabbi Avraham Ravitz, zt”l: Mekarev
It is far too early to write of Rabbi Avraham Ravitz, zt”l, as a public figure or of his historical impact. Just after the levaya is not the time to concern oneself with such...