The Price of Deception
Recently a young man claiming to be a poor chasan appeared at our door shortly before the onset of Shabbos. I gave him a good-sized contribution. A few minutes later, I went to take...
Double Standard
Many have written – mostly recently our own Yaakov Menken on Cross-Currents on Jan 11 – to the effect that it is unfair to associate Charedim with NK. While indeed extremely unfortunate, this association in...
Corrosive Corruption
I was quietly studying chapter 1 of the prophet Isaiah when from the holy text there leaped headlines from the Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, Maariv, Yediot, as well as the major newspapers of the West:...
Who really gives?
When I was much younger than today, my world was divided between the “children of light” and the “children of darkness.” I never doubted that my left-wing friends (i.e. everybody I knew) and I...
Societal Values
I read about the current “Oprah controversy” with a mixture of concern and curiosity. For those who are not familiar with the story, the basic facts are as follows: Oprah Winfrey has spent the...
The Neturei Karta Cancer
This past week’s Baltimore Jewish Times sported the second editorial, just since December, on the Neturei Karta. Notably, the editors chose “Haredi Hang-Ups” as the title, although the article was not about charedim, but...
It’s not just demographics
We will all confront the shidduchim process at least once in life as participants, and hopefully again as parents of those “in shidduchim.” So it was no surprise that a recent column on the...
The Bais Yaakov Edicts – Are We Next?
Asked about just how stringent one should be in certain areas, Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky zt”l would often apply the same formula. “Men darf zein normahl (One has to be….normal!)” I imagine that his conception...
Degree Decree
20 bTevet R. Avraham Ibn Ezra complained in a poem (all translations below are mine, SLS): “If I were a candle maker, the sun would never leave the sky. If I were a shroud...