Dear Friends, After reading the letter forwarded the other day, I feel obliged to add a few words. I attended the opening of the Berlin Memorial yesterday, and asked the architect, Peter Eisenman, whether...

Received via email: An article in the Arizona Republic on the new Holocaust memorial in Berlin (“Memorial divides Berlin,” Sunday May 8, 2005) reports: “The memorial is a maze of 2,711 unadorned concrete rectangles,...

The current issue of Yated Ne’Eman (U.S. edition) has a letter from a fellow who extols the trips that were available during Chol Hamoed. He writes: “It comforted me that we were surrounded by...

A funny thing happened on the way to writing this blog. During Pesach, two major funerals took place here in Israel. One was for Ezer Weizman, former president of Israel; the other, for Rav...

The above is said when completing Tractate “Brachos” of the Talmud, and those who are studying the Daf Yomi, a page of Talmud daily, completed this, the first tractate, on Tuesday. Yes, I’m a...

Question: The last number of weeks have been marked by three spectacles — the Schiavo saga, the funeral of the old pope and the investiture of the new one — that have riveted public...

Writing is not the only thing that I do, nor is it the main thing that I do. I suppose that much the same can be said about most writers, but there is a...

For Jewish day school children everywhere, one potential highlight of the holiday season is a biannual ritual known as the “Chol HaMoed trip,” a family outing taken during the “intermediate days” of Pesach and...

As official Jewish spokespeople weigh in on the new Pope, I find their analysis comes up short for my tastes. Most concentrated on his membership in Hitler Youth (forgivable- it wasn’t his choice; there...