47 Homicides and Counting
Why are so many young black men being murdered in Baltimore, after Freddie Gray? It’s what happens when police know they might be arrested for doing their job.
Rabbinic Dignity – A Contemporary Lesson
After reading about the latest rabbinic “issue”, we do not know what to say. While the rabbi involved has the right to explain himself, and we cannot assume wrongdoing beyond anything which would be...
When Hate (of Israel) Turns To Love
When a group of Israeli students at Harvard secured funding for the Harvard Israel Trek, they opened up the opportunity to fellow students of all backgrounds. Fifty were selected from 300 applicants. One Oliver...
Let’s Please Stick to the Facts: More on the Rabbanut and Rabbi Riskin
Isi Leibler, in a Jerusalem Post op-ed, gave my recent Times of Israel essay a real beating. Here is my reply.
Normal=Wonderful
It’s pretty much impossible to imagine the feelings of Funchu Tamang, a 101-year-old man who was pulled alive from under the rubble of his home a full week after the recent devastating earthquake that...
A Different Approach to Internet Safety For Teens
I found the approach towards internet safety for teens that the Kiryat Arba/Hebron Ulpana High School for Girls champions refreshing and even inspiring. It is very different from what our haredi schools do...
Rabbi Riskin and the Chief Rabbinate – Seeing Both Sides of the Story
The Rabbanut’s announcement that it may not extend Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s tenure as Chief Rabbi of Efrat has been met with blazing guns by supporters of Rabbi Riskin. I addressed this hypersensitive topic in...
The President’s Address at a DC Synagogue
by President Barack Obama [Editor’s note: Several readers pointed out that the version that was first displayed had been tampered with – something that we were certainly unaware of. The version below is taken...
Tziddukim would be happy this year
If there were any Tziddukim left, they’d be happy this year. You can read why in a Shavuos piece I wrote for the Forward, here.
A Little More about Snakes
I’m going to add a tidbit of my own to R’ Avi Shafran’s post below. I remember Prof. Robert Liebman’s class, Sociology 241, “The Social Basis of Individual Behavior.” He pointed out during a...