Dating in Context
Much dating takes place out of context. The courting pair visits restaurants, hotel lobbies, theatres, parks and museums in their efforts to decide whether they are suited. This is vital: quality time spent together...
Responding to (Some) Critics – Part II
Having successfully silenced critics of my piece “Who’s to Blame?,” I decided to do the same this week with respect to another post, “Negating the Past; Dishonoring the Present.” I began “Negating the Past;...
Pride and Puissance
In the end, despite pleas to spare Judaism’s holiest city the shame of a spectacle celebrating the rejection of Judaism’s moral code, the “Gay Pride” parade took place as planned in Jerusalem. Had hundreds...
Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word
If a Jewish Rip Van Winkle (Rip van Finkle?) were to awaken today and read the papers, he would wonder if he had ever really been asleep. Names that were in the headlines when...
Habits Kill Hard
The savagery and brutality of the Hamas takeover of Gaza took some of us by surprise. We like to believe that even our bitter enemies are still human, and that in time, those benighted...
Older and Better
Last week we spoke about the steps we can take to avoid becoming prisoners of our bodies as we grow older. This week I’d like to examine the bright side of the inevitable physical...
Responding to (Some) Critics
A recent posting “Who is Really to Blame?” attracted a lot of comment, much of it concerning the late Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren and his actions in the Langer case. Before responding to those...
Henry VIII and Yevamos
If you think you are having trouble with Daf Yomi these days, read what happened when both Henry VIII and the Pope tried to support their positions with citations from rabbinic treatment of yibum....
Name Abuse
Much in our world desecrates the name of G-d – in Hebrew, that is called “chilul Hashem.” Whether murder and mayhem in the name of religion or misbehavior on the part of religious individuals,...
As I Watch From Afar
How does one cope with the pain, sitting here in New York, while at this moment, thousands of miles away, our beautifully pure, and purely beautiful, Yerushalayim is being traumatized? Yerushalayim, whose streets and...