Hanukkah and the Soul
An opinion piece I wrote about Chanukah was published by the New York Times last week. It can be read here.
Shmad? Really?
Few misuses of words anger us as much as our enemies calling us Nazis. Because we have kept alive the memory and the pain, we feel the enormity of the injustice of turning victim...
Chanukah Shiur Recording
Now available for download, this is a talk I gave to a great group of singles here in Yerushalayim. It combines parts of the Maharal (Ner Mitzvah), the Bnei Yissoschor, and reminiscences of the...
Make Tehillim Sing!
“This new translation of Tehillim will change your life!” My friend in Johannesburg was exultant. I reacted with the enthusiasm of one who contemplated spending an hour looking over a list of new offerings...
Agreeing to Disagree
I understand the justification for placing Louis Farrakhan and a company shunning business in the West Bank on the same spectrum, if far from each other. But no one should be puzzled by my...
Airbnb: Why I Disagree
Rabbi Shafran has a good point. The crux of the matter, indeed, is that the two of us, friendship aside, employ very different definitions of anti-Semitism. Rabbi Shafran prefers his definition, he tells us,...
Open Orthodoxy Update, Parshas Miketz
From support of “alternative lifestyles” contrary to Torah to celebrating opposition to Israel, Open Orthodoxy continues to outdo itself — even hiring a PR firm to promote their departures from traditional Judaism.
Still, Small, Defiant Lights
I’m always struck by the contrast this time of year between, on the one hand, the garish multicolored and blinking lights that scream for attention from so many American homes and, on the other,...
Not All Discrimination is Hatred-Fueled
Finally! Something my cherished chaver Rabbi Yitzchak Adlerstein and I can agreeably disagree about. Though, alas, I don’t think the disagreement is as weighty as he thinks. Rather than recap our respective positions, they...
Airbnb is Anti-Semitic
I rarely disagree with my good friend Rabbi Avi Shafran, even privately. Public disagreement between us is rarer then good single malt being left unfinished at a high-end kiddush. Friends, it must be time...