According to a recent study by the Van Leer Institute a stunning 70% of Haredi men in Israel do not have regular employment. The question immediately arises: if they are unemployed what are they doing with their lives? The simple answer is that they are involved in advanced Jewish studies. …
My Lament about Foreskin’s Lament
Recently a new book was published, which caught my attention initially because of the title and then because of its content. That book is Foreskin's Lament by Shalom Auslander. Although I admit to not having read the entire book, the first chapter gave me a good idea of what the…
Ann Coulter’s Wakeup Call to Jews
Were Ann Coulter’s recent remarks on a recent TV show about Jews anti-Semitic? Coulter said "We just want Jews to be perfected, as they say. … That's what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament, but ours is more like Federal Express. You have to obey laws." No matter how…
Avram Grant?s Cold Welcome from British Rabbis
The former Israeli national team soccer team coach, Avram Grant, has recently been appointed coach and manager of Chelsea Football Club, one of Europe’s most successful teams. It was inevitable that this move would bring intense media interest in both the UK and Israel. Not all positive. First is the…
Synagogues are hurting Judaism in America
Obligation to pay high synagogue dues in US contributing to decline of American Jewry Many Jews will make their yearly pilgrimage to the synagogue this weekend not to be seen there again until next Yom Kippur. From recent reports it seems, however, that even this yearly synagogue visit is doing…
How To Be A Good Parent
A couple of years ago I was invited on to the Esther Rantzen show to talk about whether children need fathers. Obviously I was arguing for the motion, but one of the women arguing against it had a son conceived by artificial insemination who till this day does not know…
What to Think About on Rosh Hashanah
As I was writing this article something happened to me that has never occurred to me before. I got what is known as writers block. I just could not continue writing. I found myself painfully extracting one word at a time. So I decided to take a walk, maybe, I…
Postmodern Judaism Seems Strangely Familiar
The Conservative Movement’s flagship Rabbinic School, the Jewish Theological Seminary, welcomes a new chancellor this week. Arnold Eisen takes over from Ismar Schorsch, who at his final commencement speech talked about the "malaise of Conservative Judaism," its "impoverishment," and its "grievous failure of nerve." In the Forward this week…
Intermarriage rethink thanks to Noah Feldman
Noah Feldman Jewish communities risk shuning next generation of Jews who are products of mixed marriages Last week the New York Times published a long essay by a Harvard Law Professor Noah Feldman. While once affiliated with Modern orthodoxy, Feldman is not religious today and is married to someone who…
How Do We Know Who To Believe
A recent damning television expos_ of a purportedly religious (Kabbalah) group has forced me to re-examine my own religious beliefs. Many of my beliefs have been influenced not just by intellectual arguments but in a large part also by exceptional teachers. Indeed, beliefs, by definition, cannot be verified with certainty…