Remarkable Bordering on Incredible
Senator Orrin G. Hatch’s announcement of his retirement at the end of the year brought me back to the summer of 1995. That’s when I returned to my family’s former home of Providence, Rhode...
Those Who Prey and Those Who Daven
A young woman wrote me to relate several instances in which she, a woman, was humiliated and disrespected by men who were obviously Orthodox or haredi.
The Jewish Connection
The vandalism of a Fort Smith, Arkansas mosque in 2016 by three young local men wouldn’t seem to have any Jewish connection. But it did. Or, better, it turns out that it does. The...
Fake Kashrus
Long before candidate Donald Trump ever uttered the phrase “fake news,” some of us in the Jewish world involved with media were well acquainted with the concept. From The New York Times’ description at...
Envy Isn’t Jewish
The Western Wall in Jerusalem could (and should) be a place of Jewish unity; instead, it has become for some a target of envy. How much more good would these American leaders do, were they to not increase jealousy but reduce it?
Yes, Sadly Saying Kaddish for Non-Orthodox Judaism
(This article first appeared in Times of Israel.) In Saying Kaddish for American, Non-Orthodox Judaism? Rabbi Todd Berman argues that we should not prematurely accept the disappearance of the non-Orthodox Jewish movements in America. For despite...
Moving Commentary2.5
Alas, trips to the supermarket need to be repeated. We tried the Osher Ad, closer to home. As we finished bagging our catch, I handed the cashier our magic piece of plastic. “Did you...
Window on the Warped
Interested in making a quick $14.88? Well, you might want to consider writing a racist or anti-Semitic article and submitting it to “The Daily Stormer,” one of the more famous neo-Nazi websites that sprout...
Reading Sefer Bereshis through an Open Orthodox Lens
When studying the Torah’s narratives – especially those in Sefer Bereshis – there are two key points to keep in mind: 1. The centrality of Torah She-b’al Peh, and the approaches, thoughts and attitudes of classical Meforshim, in...
Moving Commentary4
Buying appliances works differently here. When they drop off a refrigerator, you can’t just plug it in. You have to make an appointment with a technician from a service company to do the final...