Sin and Subtext
“New study finds Orthodox women are sexually victimized as much as other American women” read the subheader of a New York Jewish Week article on October 26. The study found nothing of the sort....
Man and Beast
The name Rabbi David Fohrman flashed brightly on my radar screen for the first time in twenty years this past summer. I was in Lawrence, and a good friend told me that he had...
Jews and the Pro-Life movement—must we eat herring?
What a pity that Orthodox Jews have not been active in the Right to Life movement, and have left Christians to speak for us. Yes, we sympathize with them and vote for conservative candidates,...
Jews and Nationhood
When last heard from, we were lamenting the alienation of younger, non-Orthodox American Jews from Israel, as detailed in a recent study by sociologists Stephen M. Cohen and Ari Kelman. Those findings parallel a...
The Necessity of Choice
Yitzchak entreated Hashem opposite his wife because she was barren. And Hashem answered him, and Rivka his wife conceived (25:21) According to Rashi, both Yitzchak and Rivka were praying for a child, but Hashem...
Passion, not poison
I was asked recently to speak to a group of foreign journalists about the haredi community in Israel and take them on a tour of Mea She’arim. I refused the second request. A tour...
No. We’re sorry. Not Jerusalem.
This morning I counted. There were at least ten times the Hebrew name of Jerusalem, or its synonym Zion, passed my lips. Before breakfast. There was “Jerusalem, praise G-d,” “May You shine a new...
Yippee: a Journey to Jewish Mazursky
‘Yippee: a Journey to Jewish Joy’ premiered at a special showing in London last week. At the end of the film, the middle-aged Jewish woman sitting a few seats away turned to me and...
Gentler, Kinder, Meaner, Leaner Cross-Currents
At least the comments. Those lofty goals in the title need not conflict with each other. For many, many reasons, we are going to try all of the above, by announcing and implementing new...
Tuesday: non-haredim discuss haredim
Would you like to be a fly on the wall while a battery of secular and modern Orthodox academic experts are discussing the dynamics of change in the haredi world? If so, then today...