Chesed Shel Emes and the VT Massacre
AP will likely not pick up the moving story, reported on Yeshiva World, of the mobilization of forces to provide the final tribute to Prof. Librescu. If only we were half as good in...
A Jewish Hero at Virginia Tech
Amid the horror of the massacre at Virginia Tech, the story of a hero is being told. One brave professor blocked the door to his second-floor classroom, holding it closed until his students could...
Israel’s Bright Spot
Writing laments for Israeli society is not hard. Declining educational achievements, youth violence, hedonism, materialism, and corrupt politicians all provide ample material for those wishing to up-date Lamentations. Over the last twenty years, I’ve...
Vanishing Jews
In today’s Miami Herald there are four articles, each one an interview with an elderly Florida couple who survived the Holocaust. Their stories are tragic and also inspiring, but here is the fact that...
Halachic Child
by Rabbi Harvey Belovski In an attempt to catch the last moments of holiday spirit, my wife and I took our children to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew in West London on the...
Spiritual and Physical Resistance to the Nazis
Finally, a treatment with some balance. The Jerusalem Post, just in time for Yom HaShoah, provides an important review of the new translation of Hidden in Thunder: Perspectives on Faith, Halachah and Leadership During...
What Can’t Be Taught in the Classroom
This in from an alert reader: “Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims.” Not what you expected, was it? We’re used to being told how things like same-sex relationships need to be taught...
Jewish Influence
It isn’t likely that very many people exhaled at long last with relief at the news that three entertainment industry executives had compiled their pet list of “America’s 50 most influential rabbis.” But there...
A Dubious Milestone
Less than two weeks ago, I mentioned that the akismet spam blocker included in WordPress had trapped over 80,000 spams to our blog comments. We just hit 100,000. It’s an honor we could do...
Honesty on Patrilineal Descent
Most would agree that the single most consistent and dangerous flashpoint in the Orthodox-Heterodox divide is the issue of “Who is a Jew.” Much of the animosity and anger that the heterodox feel about...