Greetings!
“How do you say ‘the horse died’ in Yiddish?” asked the African-American panhandler to whom I had given a quarter when he accosted me in lower Manhattan. It was many years ago, shortly after...
The Gift of a Lifetime
By Elizabeth Kratz My friend and Jewish Link colleague Jenny Gans and I have a few things in common; these are not by a long shot the only reasons we are friends, but these...
Rosh Hashanah Shiur Available Online
Once again, a melange of material, including Chasam Sofer, Rav Kook, Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch, the Lubavitcher Rebbe. A good deal about davening in general. Some dreadful musings about where the world has been...
It’s Not Just Neturei Karta
Read the article. Look at the pictures. Draw your own conclusions – including what to do about it.
Annual Yomim Nora’im Shiur For Women
This coming Wednesday, Sept. 28th, at noon. Women only Twice a year, in a nod to my previous existence in which I was able to give lots of shiurim, including a weekly parshah shiur...
A Few Musings from Vacation
My “vacation” from writing articles about the issues and controversies of the day has been quite refreshing – and quite educational. I think that I have learned or reviewed more life lessons in the...
Rabbinic Outcry Against Lavish Weddings in the 17th Century
You think this is a new problem? Think again. R. Moshe Cheifetz (Venice, late 17th, early 18th century) very often picks up on the juxtaposition of pesukim and phrases that seem to have little...
Tempest in a Tallis
The image was, to be sure, jarring: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump being draped in a tallis. By an African-American pastor. In a Detroit church. To resounding applause. Bishop Wayne Jackson of the Great...
Wise Words From YU’s Next President
The news got out earlier today that YU’s search committee at arrived at a choice for a successor to President Richard Joel. Rabbi Ari Berman, a former spiritual leader of The Jewish Center in...
As Memory turns to History
In the span of less than two months, the Jewish people have lost two of its most renowned and articulate Holocaust survivors, Elie Weisel and Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis. Naturally, there is a personal loss...