[for mature audiences only. Really] Decades ago, no kiruv weekend with teens would go by without the de rigueur sessions on negiah, sex, or whatever. Stock tools were rolled out to convince teens not...
It was quite disheartening. Initially, in response to a woman giving a dvar Torah at the conclusion of a Shabbos morning minyan on the YU Wilf (men’s) Campus, RIETS administration stated that this practice...
Have you ever noticed the FedEx arrow? The next time you see one of the company’s trucks, look closely at the “Ex” part of it. In particular, at the white space between the two...
A reader has informed me that, contrary to what I had written in an earlier posting, NRA chief Wayne LaPierre did indeed mention the names of a number of non-Jews in his speech to...
A visit to Johannesburg began with elation in the company of a thriving Torah community, and ended with a mussar shmuess from some refugees from Zimbabwe. I’m not sure that there is anything like...
Indiana Republican Congressman Todd Rokita is calling on the House of Representatives to condemn “Nation of Islam” leader Louis Farrakhan. Most of us are familiar with the racist demagogue Mr. Farrakhan’s more memorable rantings,...
(This article first appeared in the Forward. Readers can view Rabbi Menken’s bold and valiant comments in the Forward version of the article.) Passover preparation has always been a heavy-duty task. For thousands of...
A piece I wrote for Forward about Ronald Lauder’s recent op-ed in the New York Times can be read here.
Another update on the journey of Open Orthodoxy, and its universal rejection by every reputable Orthodox body.
I began haphazardly collecting the advertisements a number of years ago. The first, which appeared at the end of Tammuz in a Jewish periodical, touted an eatery. It was apparently aimed at carnivores troubled...
