Simana Milsa
The Daf Yomi of Sunday, July 16, Yoma 39, cites the following verse (Zechariah 11:1): פתח לבנון דלתיך ותאכל אש בארזיך Open, Lebanon, your doors, and let fire consume your cedars.
Thank you, Akismet!
Since installation, the Akismet spam blocker for WordPress has killed off over 10,000 spam comments sent our way. In 2005 we had text displayed in a distorted graphic that you had to type. It...
Can Religious Feminism and Orthodoxy Go Hand in Hand?
18 b tammuz I was asked to be on a panel discussion in Jerusalem: “Can Religious Feminism and Orthodoxy go hand in hand” next week. The forum is organized by American Orthodox rabbis and...
Signs of the Times
After Corporal Gilad Shalit was taken captive, a small notice appeared in our Jerusalem synagogue. Above Shalit’s Hebrew name, Gilad ben Aviva, was a hand –lettered request to recite Psalms and to pray for...
Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Three Weeks
Sadness, anger, worry, frustration – which committed Jew did not feel these reactions surge within as we listened to today’s events? Their arrival on the doorstep of the Three Weeks added an unsettling dimension...
Is Olmert out of his depth?
This morning in Israel, Hizbullah terrorists came across the border from Lebanon and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers. Israel PM Ehud Olmert’s immediate reaction was as dramatic as it was clear and unequivocal: this was,...
World Cup Retrospective
Somebody with Cross-Currents has to say something, I suppose. After a full twenty-four hours to mull over the Game of Games, I am still searching for some appropriate Torah thoughts. Mostly, I keep on...
Feeling Pain
A persistent symbol of the Jewish people, according to Chazal, is the lamb. It is so delicate and sensitive, our Sages say, that if you inflict pain anywhere upon it, its entire body quivers....
Gaza Follies
Even as the nation of Israel prays for the safe return of Gilad Shalit to his family, it becomes clearer with each passing day that the Israeli response to his kidnapping has only reinforced...
Thanks, President Katzav
Kudos are due to President Moshe Katsav for refusing to address Eric Yoffie, head of the American Reform movement, by the title “Rav.” Katsav’s refusal can only be explained as an act of conscience....