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...

Good moed! I've been invited to speak at a program after Succos, on the greatest issues in chinuch [Jewish education] of our children ...

About two weeks ago, I received a long email from a yeshiva-educated man from a Modern Orthodox community. In the last ten years, he wrote,...

[This is my Toronto Torah article for this week; you can download the entire issue here .] The mother of all Jewish conventions, the sept...

Sorry for not posting for a while. I must admit that it's not only about time; I don't feel like I have much that is both fresh and...

I'm having a hard time making time to write original material for this blog - not for lack of topics, but for lack of time. On the other...

This is an absolutely stunning article, on "The Stokes Game", on the Grantland website. I highly recommend it, and particularly f...

R' Zev Farber's articles on thetorah.com sparked considerable hostility at the beginning of this summer, and calls for Orthodox refu...

I expect to resume blogging this week, after my brief hiatus. I've been thinking through a few large topics I would like to get down on ...

The gemara we are about to hit in Daf Yomi (Pesachim 37) talks quite a bit about bread made with "scalded flour" [חלוטה], either b...

Note: I expect to take a blog break over the next couple of weeks. Nothing traumatic is going on, and I'm not on vacation, I just want...

I came across Rav Kook's introduction to Shabbat ha'Aretz last week, and just loved it. Here it is in translation; it's perfect ...

Of course, Yom Kippur and Tishah b'Av are nothing like each other. On both days we don't eat or drink, wear leather shoes, etc, but ...

[The Nine Days make me terribly grim; I apologize in advance. Please forgive the darkness of these pre-Tisha b'Av musings.] A rapid se...

I entered Yeshiva University expecting to major in English; I had a vision of becoming a writer. That changed, for numerous reasons beyond t...

A few weeks ago, I received a request to publicize a website which lists the graves of righteous people, "throughout Israel and the wor...

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a shul rabbi, asking for advice on dealing with a particular type of congregant. The characterics ...

[ Note: I don't like the word Chareidi, since I believe it is an overused term that obscures the nuances between certain religious gro...