Several statements by Ivanka Trump stimulated me to rethink my own Shabbat observance. The 35-year-old daughter of US president elect Donald Trump converted to Judaism seven years ago. She said that she and her...
There are compromises that are made in order to securely retain that which is most essential. Such is a pragmatic compromise, and it is manifest by armistice agreements between nations, contract negotiations between employer...
An op-ed of mine about the recent disruption at the Kotel engineered by non-Orthodox Jewish clergy and an Israeli feminist group appeared in Haaretz. It can be read at: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.750731?=&ts=_1478444374594
Whichever political candidate you support, you should be able to do so without ad hominem attacks and demonization of all who disagree. That kind of level judgment seems to be in short supply in this election.
This article first appeared in Times of Israel. As we know, voters are sick and tired of the “schmutz” (filth) of the present US election. Whereas most of the recent negative personal publicity had...
This article first appeared in Times of Israel. Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo’s The deliberately flawed divine Torah is by far the most problematic article yet by this writer. Whereas Rabbi Cardozo has written that he...
Perhaps because of the work I do with non-Jewish communities, I find myself constantly getting a boost from the observations of religious Gentiles about authentic Judaism. A recent exchange seemed too good not to...
For all but the most starry-eyed devotees, or family members, of an aspirant to public service, voting essentially boils down to deciding which evil is lesser. Well, that’s a bit harsh. What I mean...
There is simply no describing the plaintive, moving melody to which Yiddish writer Avraham Reisen’s poem was set. As a song, it is familiar to many of us who know it thanks to immigrant...
With hurricane season upon us, we might learn something from the models that meteorologists offer when a large sea-storm heads for land. Something about Shemini Atzeres. The maps created as a storm approaches often...
