The Enemy is Ideology
November 8, 2023
To lie and distort for a cause or ideology is intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt.
Paul Socken
Dr. Paul Socken is Distinguished Professor Emeritus and founder of the Jewish Studies Program at the University of Waterloo.
Music in a Time of Discord
October 5, 2023
If words are the language of the mind, then music is the language of the soul.
Extremism in Jewish Thought
September 12, 2023
Observing society in America and Israel today, especially in the political arena, we witness behavior more suited to alpha male chimpanzees than to a civilized society of enlightened men and women.
Why Does the Talmud Include So Many Stories?
July 7, 2023
The stories in the Talmud demonstrate the important difference between the law and the application of the law.
The Nobel Prize for Menschlichkeit
June 8, 2023
Menschlichkeit is one of those meaningful Yiddish words that have no English equivalent.
Putting the Human Back Into Humanity
May 11, 2023
The ethics and moral responsibility of religious tradition and the human and aesthetic dimension of the arts have never been more relevant.
Ode to Friendship
April 26, 2023
In a fracturing world, where politics divide family and friends, it is timely to reflect on the value and importance of friendship.
On Losing Survivors
March 2, 2023
In the near future, there will be no witnesses to the Holocaust, no one to confront lies, denial and ignorance with personal experience.
Moshiach as Metaphor
February 2, 2023
Perhaps it is what we do in anticipation of the Moshiach’s coming that matters more than the actual arrival.
Ode to Small Things
December 7, 2022
Our historical and religious sources, as well as modern writers, attest to the very great task of the ostensibly ordinary person to forge a society of honor and dignity and hope.
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