A Haredi Rabbi’s Rumination on Racism
An article I wrote for Moment Magazine, about dealing with racism, can be read here.
The Writing on the Wall
So many walls these days. The Israeli security one. The one President Trump wants to build along the Mexican border. The “Wall of Steel” erected around London’s Winfield House, where the president spent a...
Open Orthodoxy Update, Parshas Devarim
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah’s enrollment continues to decline. There were 49 students during the 2014-15 academic year. This number has now dropped to 21. In addition, none of their most recent graduates (of which there...
Same Sex Marriage – A Debate For Our Times
One of the most impactful pieces I recall from the years of The Jewish Observer was a debate between two contributors. (One was Rabbi Bernard Weinberger, z”l, who was niftar just a short while...
A Fish’s Smile
I was accosted recently on the Staten Island Ferry by a large fish. Well, not exactly. It was actually a large photograph of a fish, on a poster carrying the legend: “I’m ME, not...
A Few New Articles
Here are a few new articles of mine that were were recently posted, respectively, on Times of Israel and Arutz Sheva: Ethiopians and Wine: Not so Fast, Rabbi Cardozo Rabbis Weiss’and Angel’s accusations against...
The Final Volume of the Rav Soloveitchik Chumash
What would Rav Soloveitchik zt”l say about the separation of children and parents by ICE agents? The question is inherently silly, like all questions of the form “What would X say,” where X is...
The Monster on Muslims’ Backs
The third time proved the charm. President Trump’s travel ban received the hechsher of the highest court in the land. As well it should have. True, in the years since 9/11, no one in...
Three Weeks Shiur
Entitled “A 17th of Tammuz Cholent,” it was, as the name implies, a little bit of this, and a little big of that. I think it was supposed to keep people awake in the...
Immigration, Meet Balak
Everything that happens is alluded to in the weekly parshah, right? Sometimes it is just a little more difficult to see how. Not this week. Immigration policy is front and center. Am I being...