I have been asked, repeatedly, by non-Orthodox Jews about the “Orthodox response to Pittsburgh.” What a strange question. After all, the American Orthodox Jewish community has undoubtedly been plunged into mourning over the Pittsburgh shooting victims. Still, I sense a frustration here, among progressives seeking emotional responses from the Orthodox — and I want to…
The past year had been a really tough one for me. I experienced a frozen shoulder which lasted over six months, digestive symptoms only a GI doctor could listen to, multiple skin problems and — oh yeah — one of my front teeth suddenly came out unexpectedly while I was out of town. Also, I…
Like many families, I go into the Jewish holiday season with some sense of sorrow and regret. There is nothing sad about these holidays themselves — even Yom Kippur, a day of fasting and forgiveness is pervaded with a sense of hopefulness and expectation that God will forgive us and inscribe us in the “book…
Nova Scotia lox and egg scramble. A toasted poppyseed bagel. A pot of black coffee and a glass of orange juice. The staff at Barney Greengrass, a historic Jewish deli on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, honored chef Anthony Bourdain by serving his regular breakfast order today, at an empty table with a single chair. Bourdain…
I am not a Jew who prays three times a day, in the morning, afternoon and evening as proscribed by Jewish law. Not like my wife’s four religious cousins who live with their large families in Israel. Not even like my Modern Orthodox brother in Jerusalem, who often dons a baseball cap and finds time…
For years, I’ve taken care to light the Hanukkah candles with my children. I fry latkes every single night for eight nights and make sure we sing all the right songs. I buy doughnuts filled with jelly and sometimes even make my own. And I hate every moment of it, because it was at Hanukkah…
Today is the first yartzeit (anniversary of the Hebrew date of one’s death) of a beloved teacher, mentor, writer, reluctant modern prophet and a unique voice for humanity that can’t be replaced. It’s the first yartzeit of Professor Elie Wiesel of blessed memory. Our hearts are aching today. Last night I was privileged to participate…
The headline on a recent Forward interview with Sheryl Sandberg asks if Sandberg can help Americans learn to grieve. Sandberg has certainly done all of us a great service by opening up a conversation about the way American do –- and don’t –- deal with death, dying and grief. In the essay that follows this…
אַמאָל זענען די פּייטנים, מיסטישע דיכטער־וויזיאָנערן, געווען אויבן־אָן בײַ די פֿראַנצויזישע און דײַטשישע ייִדן.
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