Why Orthodoxy needs both — OU congregations and Young Israel shuls
Having been a rabbi at shuls with non-observant Presidents, I know first-hand the night-and-day difference behind the scenes when the Shul President is Torah-observant.
A Centrist at the Shabbos Table
Imagine the scene, Moshe, the long-lost son of Amram works his way to the makeshift stage. He hasn’t been seen in over sixty years and rumor has it, he has a message from God. All of the Jewish People are gathered, eager to hear what he has to say.
What the Pew Report Got Wrong
An opinion piece I wrote for JTA about a recent Pew report on religious restrictions in countries around the globe, and which had criticism of Israel, can be read here.
Targeted by Friendly Fire
In a recent piece that appeared in the Daily Wire, I suggested that what is better for Republicans and the Trump Campaign might not be best for the nation overall. Unfortunately, such nuance is lost on some.
In Praise of the Judeo-Christian Idea
Is there a “Judeo-Christian” tradition, or is the very notion an insult to zealous believers in each of those two faiths? Is there a common platform of real substance, or was the idea invented...
Loony Tooner
Cartoons employing anti-Semitic tropes became a thing again last week. The memory of the New York Times International Edition’s offering of a Portuguese cartoonist’s depiction of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a dog,...
We Must Distance Ourselves From the President’s Remarks
I will say it straight out. The President should not have told members of The Squad to go back to where they came from. It is disappointing that he used language that – whatever...
Federation Blues
When a media offering chooses to not identify a quoted speaker, it loses a bit of credibility. But the words attributed to several unnamed Jewish federation leaders in a recent report in the Israeli...
Rabbi Rafi Peretz on Assimilation and Intermarriage
Israeli Education Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz was recently attacked by non-Orthodox leaders for describing assimilation and intermarriage in the US as a “second Holocaust”. Here is Coalition for Jewish Values’ reaction to the attacks...
Point / Counterpoint: Is the Equality Act Good for the Jews?
Rabbi Michael Broyde takes issue with my earlier portrayal of the Equality Act and offers a contrary approach, with my response.