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The entire war in Iraq has been one big tragedy deceptively perpetrated by President Bush. The American people should hold him accountable. That said, Rabbi Stern is missing the point when he thinks the issue surrounding Hussein’s execution is an aversion to capital punishment. It is not. There are many, myself included, who generally oppose…

Dear Thomas Freidman, In the spirit of the many letters you have written over the years I have decided to write one special to you. I have always enjoyed your pieces in the Times (especially after 9/11) and find myself usually nodding my head in agreement when reading your books. But this last op-ed just…

Rabbi Grossman, if you read my posts, you would see that I have no problem condemning Orthodox violence. I have done so many times before on this blog and in other publications. Nor am I, nor have I ever been interested in apologizing for any form of violence. Regarding your claim that I am defensive…

My problem with Rabbi Stern’s comments is that, while acknowledging the propensity for violence among the ultra-Orthodox, he dismisses it as a relatively minor phenomena in comparison to extremist violence by Muslims and Christians (though I am not sure of what recent Christian violence he is referring to unless it is the Serb slaughter of…

Point well taken, Rabbi Waxman. I pretty much agree with everything you are saying about certainty. I just think that by focusing on this aspect of Orthodoxy we end up missing more than we uncover. The miniscule rise in Orthodox violence is just not that big or important of a story compared to the rise…

Rabbi Stern, it strikes me, doth protest too much. It is true that the vast majority of Orthodox Jews are not extremists who will take matters into their own hands to enforce their own social and religious agenda. It is also true that Judaism has produced fewer crazies and extremists than certain other religions. I…

Reading Rabbi Waxman’s post, I thought to myself “I could easily have written the exact same piece…10 years ago when I was freshman at Yeshiva University.” Much of what Rabbi Waxman says is correct. The problem is that it’s too easy, it’s too obvious, and it fails to explain the rise and allure of Orthodoxy.…

Rabbi Waxman is correct to be worried about the rise of religious extremism in the Jewish community. He should be equally worried that the Israeli government continues to pander to the extortion of the religious right, enabling the ultra-Orthodox haredim to become even more extreme with every step. First, the haredim attacked women who had…

The vast majority of American Jews would take no offense were I to take this opportunity to wish them a “Happy New Year. ” Although the new Jewish year of 5767 began several months ago with Rosh Hashanah, the Gregorian calendar used throughout the Western world is ours as well. As Americans, the rhythms of…

In addition to the worthy books Rabbis Grossman and Stern mentioned–and with particular appreciation for the selection of Etgar Keret’s The Nimrod Flipout, a fitting follow-up to the brilliant 2004 short-story collection The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God–I would add the recently published Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land by…
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