The Rebbetzin's Husband

During Yom Tov, I had the opportunity to read Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights . I had never read any of the works of the Bronte sister...

[ Just by the way: On Chanukah, when people asked how many candles we were to light that night, was I the only person who felt an urge to re...

A couple of weeks ago I finished reading Neal Stephenson's Anathem . It was mostly a good read, although there were definite portions in...

In my last post I mentioned agnatology (aka agnotology) , which may be rendered as "the study of ignorance", geared toward answeri...

First: A reader has started a new website, Mi Yodeya , posting questions and answers about Judaism on a Wiki-style site. The site just opene...

I don't want to be yet another humbug, rain-on-the-parade blogger bashing the choice of President Barack Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize...

[ Note: This is a review of a book that is available for sale starting September 29. I was given a free copy to review, but I will receive n...

Names give the illusion of identity; in the Torah, to know someone's name is to know his characteristics, his basic nature. Think of the...

If you ever need a thought-provoking quote, go for Voltaire; he coined adages like, “Common sense is not so common,” and, “Originality is un...

What Soren Kierkegaard did for Avraham’s faith in Fear and Trembling , someone with an equally eloquent pen ought to do for Moshe’s defiance...

[ This week's Haveil Havalim - quite a well-organized edition - is here ! ] For those who are looking for more substantive material, ple...

The New Birth Megachurch in Lithonia, Georgia. The Christian Book Association’s annual conference. Ultimate Christian Wrestling. A Christian...

[ This week's Haveil Havalim is out here ! And a very good edition it is. ] Lois McMaster Bujold, in her Miles Vorkosigan books, tells a...

Shavuos is a tough holiday for being both rabbi and father. I had our older two kids sleep in my office Shavuos night so that they could dav...

Part I is here - please read it first . Here is a non-comprehensive list of errors I found in Rashi's Daughters, Book I: Joheved . It ...

[Note: Haveil Havalim is out here !] Prologue: A great Rashi joke I found here : Rashi and his wife were getting ready to go out. Rashi'...