Operation Cast Lead – Week III
Let us start with the good news. First, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has removed the stain of the 2006 Second Lebanon War. The Winograd Commission found drastic failures in both the political echelons...
The Yetzer’s Playing Field
Most discussions of the so-called Shidduch Crisis focus on the plight of young women. According to the common wisdom, every boy — or at least his mother — has a long list of young...
Real Money
The late senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois once famously said to Lyndon Johnson about the national debt: “A few billion here, a few billion there and before you know it, you’re talking real money…”...
Operation Cast Lead – Week II
At the outset of Operation Cast Lead, Israel had two immediate precedents in front of it. The happy precedent is Operation Defensive Shield launched in 2002, after a month in which 130 Israelis were...
Out with the New
Ben Stein had a nice piece in the New York Times last week. He concluded, “It is a myth that money determines who you are, and if you have gotten over that myth by...
A War for the Future of the Torah Community as Well
Last week, I ran into an acquaintance at a minyan in Boro Park. “The situation is azoi shver,” he told me, as he directed his woeful gaze upwards. I asked him whether he was...
Combating Abuse: A Model That Works
Abuse, especially of children, continues to be the elephant in the Orthodox room. The news stories won’t go away. The cynicism won’t go away. The problem won’t go away. While victims cry out for...
Weapons, and Weapons
When one lacks any semblance of moral justification for one’s belligerence and lust to murder innocents, there is only benefit in having as many dead civilians as possible of one’s own to display in lieu of logic.
Praying for the Soldiers
Long-time readers may remember that the same was done during the War in Lebanon. Your prayers are needed! An open letter to Acheinu Benei Yisroel [Our Brethren, the Children of Israel] After learning about...