Culture is a powerful thing. And Palestinian culture seems to embrace, or at least have an unhealthy tolerance for, violence.
Not only against Israelis or Jews but within Palestinian society as well.
To read what I mean, click here.
Category Archives: News
A Pandemic of Pilferage
A pandemic of pilferage predates the virus one, though the reason isn’t clear. My thought on the matter is here.
Unexpected Evolutions
| An accomplished doctor recently told the world that she is rethinking her assumptions about advanced care directives, since, while “it is easy for people to say that they would rather die than live with significant limitations,” over time they “evolve in ways they cannot expect.” To read more, please click here . |
We should hire Deborah Lipstadt to combat antisemitism, not punish her for doing so
Also, an essay I wrote for Religion News Service about the stalled Deborah Lipstadt nomination can be read here:
Unrighteous Indignation
The Polish envoy entrusted several months ago with the mission of improving relations with Jews recently called his country’s 2018 law criminalizing claims that Poles were complicit in the Holocaust “one of the stupidest” laws ever. To read why, and the end of the story, click here.
“Is Anybody There?”
“Is anyone there? Can you hear me?” You shout at the rubble of a collapsed building. No reply, but then… was that tapping?
You have an idea. “If you can understand me,” you yell, “tap once.” A single tap. “If you’re injured,” you then say, “tap twice.” Two taps. There’s someone there.
An apt metaphor for something very important. To read what, please click here.
Behold the Eyes of Webb
What does the James Webb Space Telescope have to do with a quote of Albert Einstein in a letter from Rav Mordechai Gifter? Glad you asked. You can read the answer in my most recent Ami column, available here: https://www.amimagazine.org/2022/01/05/behold-the-eyes-of-webb/
Help Preserve the Kotel’s Kedusha
The push to balkanize the Kotel Maaravi is, as its proponents readily admit, intended as a step toward legitimizing American-style “Jewish religious pluralism” in Israel. That would be a disaster, not only because of the notion’s inherent falsehood — that there are different “Judaisms” — but demographically too, since non-halachic “conversions,” “divorces” and the like have wreaked havoc on the unity of American Jewry.
What is more, the Kotel has always served as a unifier of Jews, whatever their backgrounds or beliefs — probably the only place on earth where so many different kinds of Jews pray side by side.
If you wish to register your chagrin at the plan to partition the Kotel, you can do so easily by visiting:
There is no charge for doing so, and, by sending the letter (or one of your own crafting), you can help show that a good part of “American Jewry” wants the status quo at the Kosel to be retained.
Tizku limitzvos.
Loony Librarian Lesson
Just when it seemed the news stream couldn’t get nuttier, we were graced with the lovely story, first reported by The Washington Post, of third-graders at a Washington, DC, elementary school allegedly told to reenact horrific Holocaust scenes. To read more about that “creative” assignment, click here,
Bird Brains
As you may know, there was massive fraud in the 2020 presidential election. And birds are not the innocent animals they seem to be, as you can read here.