Undeserved Forgiveness
by Jeff Jacoby Ed. Note: This piece was originally published (in the Boston Globe) during Sukkos. The issues Mr. Jacoby raises, however, are similar to those discussed by Rabbi Dovid Gottlied in his contribution...
Reb Hershel Berger, z”l
The end of a generation. I can hardly recall how often I heard that claim made at the levayos (funerals) of various Torah personalities. No one in my generation saw the great yeshivos and...
Jiminy Cricket and the Jews
Anyone familiar with contemporary talk-radio knows that the word “liberal” has become for some a slur, implying that holders of ideals like tolerance for other cultures or concern for the poor and disadvantaged are...
Keeping out the Cold
Never underestimate the power of enthusiasm and positive thinking! This was the lesson driven home by our unexpected guests on the evening of Shemini Atzeres, the “gathering of the eighth day” at the end...
Do We All Believe in the Same G-d? Do Muslims?
Back in the old days, America’s religious checkerboard came in only two colors – Jewish and Christian. This was never true, of course, but we liked to think it was. The perception left room...
Hashem Helps the Givers
In 1971, a Chassidishe yungerman with $500 in extra money from his wedding decided to start a gemach. By the late ‘80s, that gemach was lending over ten million dollars a year. How did...
A bad idea that won’t go away
Recent years have witnessed repeated pleas for liberalization of the standards of conversion to Judaism. Most often those demands center on the State of Israel where the Chief Rabbinate still maintains authority over conversions...
Hypocrisy, Thy Name is Meretz
Another gem from Jameel: The winter session of the Knesset is now in session. MK Chaim Oron (Meretz) ascended the podium of Israel’s parliament and proposed a new law: Any person who attempts to...
Not Always Divine
The horrific murder of five Amish schoolgirls and the response to those murders by the Amish community has attracted extensive news coverage and inspired much meaningful commentary. Perhaps the most thought provoking interchange centered...
Look what the wind blew in
Today, Hoshana Raba — the seventh day of Sukkos — is the anniversary of the day all the sukkos in North Miami Beach blew away, exactly one year ago. Three days earlier, the weather...