World Jewry

For those inclined to see the workings of Divine Providence in human history, the special affinity of the American people for Israel provides a happy example.

As far as Zurich goes, these are not particularly turbulent times – at least not yet. Those with whom I spoke could not remember more than one or two young people from the chareidi community leaving the fold.

Today marks the bicentennial of Rabbi Shamshon Raphael Hirsch, whose vision dominated German Orthodoxy from the early 19th century until its destruction by the Nazis.

Following our celebration of kabolos HaTorah, it is fitting that we all ponder our communal responsibility to ensure that all our children are filled with ahavas Torah and do not feel like they have been left behind in a race.

the teenagers arrested in Japan represent a more general educational failure that requires a bit of soul-searching

The dream of a small apartment in outlying Jerusalem, is almost beyond realization for young couples.

Israel cannot afford such deference if it hopes to survive amongst those who don't hesitate to kill civilians.

Tendency of our enemies to arouse their enemies is one aspect of of the Divine Providence protecting us.

The Toronto rally offers a hint of Jewish Unity

Whatever one's view of the wisdom of our Court, let no one call it liberal.

Israel is inexorably being led right back to the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip.

Ultimately, the question may not be so much what is the role of a chareidi columnist, as what is the role of the chareidi public in discourse bearing on major communal decisions.

The drop-out phenomenon is but one example of a general rule: good decisions require good information.

No one likes to feel that he is viewed as just one more member of an undifferentiated mass, and that the person to whom he is spaking cannot see him as an individual.

Just as a patient facing death will ingest poisons to save himself, so too did the great Torah leaders advance a radical societal model in response to a crisis of unprecedented proportions.

I'm fascinated by those with the ability to make money.

After Auschwitz, the one unforgivable sin in European eyes is racism. Israel is convicted on this count above all nations, in European eyes the Israeli project is racist from the outset.

AFTER AUSCHWITZ, the one unforgivable sin in European eyes is racism, And Israel is charged and convicted on this count above all the nations of the world. Israel has turned the Arabs into the Other. Israel thus has no right to exist.

The two-fold efforts of EJF provide irrefutable proof that concern for universally recognized standards of conversion goes hand-in-hand with the greatest love and respect for the convert.

A recent incident involving Republican presidential candidate Tommy Thompson provides a ready example of the type of hyper-sensitivity that we should be careful to avoid.

The true Jew haters do not merely feel a discomfort with Jews; they are obsessed with them. For them Jews are truly diabolical and are at the root of all that is wrong with the world. Not that all those so obsessed, of course, are potential Nazis in wait.

The test is not whether we have stereotypes of those outside of our community or group - we all do - but how hard we struggle against those stereotypes and strive to know others outside our narrow world as individuals.

Running a gemach with total assets of $500, for instance, has little to do with running one lending ten million dollars annually, involving more than a dozen bank accounts, and a full-time staff.

The requisite good will on the part of bureaucrats of the “Jewish state” towards the observant population was totally lacking – a situation which unscrupulous individuals sought to exploit to reap whirlwind profits.

Israel is saying that the IDF will enter Gaza to gain the release of one kidnapped soldier, but not for such a trivial matter as protecting tens of thousands of citizens traumatized over a period of eight months by an ongoing barrage of Kassams.

If Moslem hyper-sensitivity leads to a reign of self-censorship, then we have lost our precious freedom by our own hands.

Such visits can be used to force us to wrestle with a world of hester panim, and out of that wrestling hopefully emerge with a deeper and truer faith in He Who has preserved us in the face of all the Amaleks, Hamans, and Hitlers.

Rabbi Dombey was the freest person I knew. He lived with only one question -- What does Hashem want of me at this moment? – without ever worrying about the opinions of others.

By losing their connection to the future, the post-Christian societies of the West find themselves hurtling towards extinction.

Asking whether free speech is a Torah value, or how free the press would be in an ideal Torah state is missing the point.

So long as Hashem has not yet wiped the tears from every cheek forever, let us at least make sure that the grief of stricken families is not multiplied by overwhelming financial woes.

Between Jews and Moslems

Given how crucial Christian support is for Israel, it is madness for prominent Jews like Dershowitz to demonize Christian evangelicals as the great enemy.

Have American Jewish leaders been wise in demonizing Israel's most ardent supporters in America, and lumping them all together as the great enemy?

Yoffie and Foxman's recent attacks on evangelical Christians were irresponsible.

Yeshivos ketanos for boys age fourteen through seventeen are perhaps the chief case in point.

To a large extent, Holocaust Remembrance has become the religion of American Jewry.

Perhaps that is the the best argument against special days of Holocaust Remembrance: they are too subject to being kidnapped by those who dream of the next Holocaust, chas ve'shalom.

It would be interesting to study what elements in Torah society have historically allowed Jews to flourish in widely different milieus, and to consider how those elements continue to function today to enable us to face new challenges as they arise.

For a real taste of the greatness and diversity of the Jewish people there is nothing like a trip to the hinterlands of Jewish life.

the openly expressed loathing for Israel and Jews among a large swath of Britain's elites is frightening.

Ba'alei teshuva have played an important role as defenders and expositors of the Torah world to the broader Jewish and secular society.

The Mashgiach's message of self-discovery leading outward to a deep connection with all of Klal Yisrael is one that will hopefully continue to resonate in the Torah world.

Rabbi Wolbe shaped the lives of thousands of his students, and through their families and students will continue to shape thousands more. His influence will also be felt, however, by many Israelis who never even heard of him.

Indeed if there is one thing in which the English, particularly the educated classes, seem to excel today it is vituperation.

These examples of the use of modern technology to spread knowledge of Torah barely scratch the surface of what is being done.

Senator John F. Kerry would have American Jews believe that he will be as good, if not better, for Israel than President George W. Bush. Don’t believe it.

Once largely the province of the fringe Right, conspiracy theories involving Jews are far more likely to be heard today in Democratic Party circles

Both these chance encounters taught me a great deal -- above all how little we know of the true depth of our fellow Jews.

The anti-Israel monopoly in the UK

Just as a shared language does not override the immense differences between Americans and Englishmen, so too the fact that both chosson and kallah come from Torah homes, will not protect them from feeling as if they come from different planets.

Remembering the past to preserve the future

Passion, prejudice, and political incorrectness

Pesach and Jewish Unity

Of mitzvos and matzos

The folly of pursuing numbers

New learning framework for the frum baalebos

"The Passion" & the tar baby

If only Naftali and Mikey were the images of Jewish youth shown to the world

Mikey never realized his ambition of living a single day as a normal person, without 50-70 doses of medicine. But he achieved something far greater – changing the lives of everyone who knew him or even knew of him.

A battle lost before it begins

Attacks on Israel are causing Jewish students to flee even further from any identification as Jews.

Interfaith dialogue - why not

No to interfaith dialogue

A Jew among enemies

Refutation to Efraim Zuroff's accusation that haredim only saved their own during the Holocaust.

PM Sharon bashes rabbis for being too strict in converting new immigrants

The Jews are too tough competition for all those who need to see themselves as part of a moral elite.

Jonathan Pollard’s dwindling band of intense supporters must ask themselves: Would we rather have him free or hailed as a hero? Let’s hope they choose freedom.

Cultural anti-Semitism vs. theological anti-Semitism

The counting of the Omer and Israel today

Thoughts on Holocaust Martyrs and Remembrance Day

When "more Judaism" is worrisome

The political, security and economic situations don't bode well for the chareidi world

Ilan Ramon chose to be something more than an isolated individual and to identify with the collective Jewish people throughout history. That was the source of the Kiddush Hashem that came through him, and why his memory deserves to be honored by al

For Ilan Ramon: Why we cry more

Yossi Beilin's big new idea

Mikveh revisited

Had Rabbi Sacks been less intent on constructing a general theory of religion – in becoming the defender of faiths rather than a teacher of his own particular faith – he could have avoided the controversy that now threatens his public career.

Rabbi Sacks revisited

Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks made a serious error in making statement that can be used to harm Israel

New Age spirituality has very little to do with Judaism

For Torah Jews, anti-semitism has often been devastating, but never surprising or demoralizing. The latest outbreaks of anit-semitism are no different.

Feelings on the passing of Rabbi Avraham Abba Freedman

The passing of a pure soul

a portrait of Rav Shach

A portrait of Rabbi Shach

Durban deja vu

Anti-Semitism is alive and well, but it manifests itself as antagonism towards Israel

Jewish students on college campuses do all they can to disassociate themselves from Israel and as a result, from Judasim too

The failure of Israel's PR effort

No other group is as devoted to Israel as the Orthodox

The Toronto rally offers a hint of Jewish unity

Yoffie and Foxman's recent attacks on evangelical Christians were irresponsible.

Pollard's sentencing is a stain on the American Judicial System

The doctors at Laniado never strike due to the philosophy of the hospital and its founder

Refutation of Ephraim Zuroff's accusations that the haredim only saved their own during the Holocaust

The legal holes in the Duhlberg case

Israel has yet to realize that the proceedings in the Duhlberg case are essentially an attack on Judaism

Mortara Affair Revisited

On the development of English literature revealing deeper facets of the Torah, a close look at Jeremy Kagan's "The Jewish Self"

Why highly educated young secular Jews become religious

Israel has not trouble itself to help the Duhlberg sisters

The affair of the Duhlberg sisters

The real issue behind the 'Who is a Jew?' debate

On the Jonathan Pollard case