A Schism Within Open Orthodoxy?
These guys have guts. They took a principled stand, rejecting many of the messages emanating from Open Orthodox senior leadership, and they valiantly put their beliefs on the table, reaching out to the broad...
A Better Way to Allow Change in the Charedi World
When Yair Lapid introduced his measures to nudge the charedi community into the IDF and the work force a few years ago, Cross-Currents readers mixed it up with more gusto than Bernie Sanders supporters...
Rav Avrohom Powers, z”l
The death of an old friend always comes hard. The impact is lessened when the march of time long ago sent you in different directions. Why, then, did news of the petirah of Rav...
News and Essays In and Out of Orthodoxy – Parshas Pinchas 5776
Rav Shmuel Yerachmiel Kaufman zt”l, Legendary Mechanech of Detroit Rabbi Avrohom Powers z”l Freezer Survivor Known from Arizal’s Mikvah Passes Away An Italian doctor explains “Syndrome K,” the fake disease he invented to save...
Shock Treatment
It’s a truth not universally acknowledged that good can come from bad. As Iyov said, “Who can bring purity from impurity, not the One?” (14:4; see Targum Yonasan). An untruth almost universally asserted is...
On the Tightrope
On the Tightrope By Alexandra Fleksher On the tightrope, I walk. Slowly, hesitantly, eyes flitting to the left – a distraction. Brief glances to the right – I lose focus. I could very well...
Criticizing Rabbi Levenstein
Rabbi Yigal Levenstein, who heads the Bnei David academy in the Israeli town of Eli, made waves several days ago with some public remarks: I said there are red lines and I am not...
Be Careful With Your Words
As the American Jewish news cycle turns toward the alleged bullying of Rabbi Haskel Lookstein out of delivering the invocation at the Republican National Convention, we should perhaps shift the focus of the news...
Postscript to the Conversion Controversy
Listening to the buzz about the conversion kerfuffle last week, one would think that breaking the back of the Israeli rabbinate will becalm the angst of past converts unsure of their status, ensure equitable...
