Last week, during the official celebration of the Los Angeles Kings winning the Stanley Cup, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti told a jammed Staples Center that “there are two long-standing rules for politicians. … They say never, ever be pictured with a drink in your hand, and never swear. But this is a big f—–g day,” as he held up a bottle of Bud Light.
Almost 40 years ago I spoke about “The Case for Judaism” to members of the tiny Jewish community of Moncton, in New Brunswick, Canada.
Judaism has a sophisticated view of human nature. It unambiguously asserts that we are not born good, but at the same time holds that human beings have, on the one hand, a conscience and a will to do good — the yetzer hatov, and, on the other hand, an urge to do bad — the yetzer harah
It’s not something that Americans mention in public. And it may not even be something many note in private. But a Jew writing in a Jewish journal ought to point out a fact that, no matter how much ignored, is significant.
With Passover here, it is a propitious time to address the central issue of the holiday: the Exodus. Specifically, did the Exodus happen?
If I could ask one question of a religious person — of any faith — it would be, “What is the worst sin in your religion?”
It has been widely reported that the son of the Israeli prime minister, 23-year-old Yair Netanyahu, has been dating a non-Jewish Norwegian woman. Sandra Leikanger, 25, and Yair are both students at Israel’s elite Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.
The traditional wish that Jews offer fellow Jews is “May you have nachas from your children.” Nachas is understood to be pride and joy. And for most Jews, pride and joy from their children is the greatest blessing in life.
The intellectual and moral decline of American universities in the last 40 years is one of the saddest chapters in modern American history.
