The Time is Now
by Rabbi Pesach Lerner For me, the story began about 17 years ago. I sincerely hope and pray that it ends soon. I joined the National Council of Young Israel’s (NCYI) professional staff in...
Exceeding Our Expectations
Recently, a commenter reacted with both surprise and disdain to the hopeful messages here following the election of Barack Obama as our next President. Referring correctly to the fact that many of our writers...
Unwashed Poets and Kashrut
Recently I was privileged to participate in a student-group organized panel presentation at Yeshiva University entitled “The Kosher Quandary: Ethics and Kashrut.” The panel included representatives of the Orthodox Union, the Rabbinical Council of...
Thoughts on the Madoff Debacle
No, he’s not Orthodox. More on that later. Within a handful of hours after the story broke, the Nazi sites spun it as predicted. Cretins that they are (and therefore understanding nothing about where...
The Bush I Know
(By Noam Neusner, who was a speechwriter and Jewish liaison for President Bush from 2002-2005.) President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush will watch Monday night as the grandsons of Harry Truman and David...
A Rose by any Other Name
The NY Jewish Week noted a thread of criticism of media coverage of the terrorist attack on the Chabad of Mumbai, one both different and more subtle than the media’s obfuscation of the terrorists’...
The Gift of Simchah
Each of us knows at least one. I mean someone who inevitably makes you feel happier, more inclined to do something nice for the next person you meet, just by spending a few moments...
Ships Passing in the Night
No subject so divides the Jews of Israel and America as that which once bound them most closely: Israel itself. To appreciate the gap try telling an American Jew that George W. Bush was...
Colour Among The Black Hats?
The students of a prominent Eastern-European rabbi were about to join him to light the Chanukah lamp. The rabbi noticed a broom near the window next to his Menorah and asked for it to...
The Audacity of Hopelessness
The President-elect once bought a home whose deed prohibited its resale or rental to Jews. He had associations with a number of dubious characters, some of whom did not much care for Hebrews. In...