March 2016 – Excerpted

America

31 March 2016

Tagged Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice Roberts, Class-Action Lawsuit, The Supreme Court

“…the most consequential work of the Roberts Court in protecting corporate rights has been in cases that have gone mostly unnoticed”

…the most consequential work of the Roberts Court in protecting corporate rights has been in cases that have gone mostly unnoticed, including […]

Writing

31 March 2016

Tagged Review, REviewing

“What’s the point of a reviewer in an age when everyone reviews?”

What’s the point of a reviewer in an age when everyone reviews? A common defense of the endeavor centers on three qualities: […]

Modern Orthodoxy

30 March 2016

Tagged Modern Orthodoxy, Rabbi Andrew Gordimer, Rabbi Avraham Gordimer

“Modern Orthodoxy’s right wing must step up and join the real conversation”

Modern Orthodoxy’s right wing must step up and join the real conversation. The questions now are, is Modern Orthodoxy’s right up to […]

Jews in America / Modern Orthodoxy / Orthodoxy / Rabbis

30 March 2016

Tagged Modern Orthodoxy, Orthodoxy, Rabbinical Council of America, rabbis, RCA

“…although Modern Orthodoxy has produced many brilliant and dedicated leaders and laymen, it has yet to cultivate younger figures possessing the authority and broad appeal of its founding fathers”

The charge that the establishment lacks even a healthy amount of dynamism is undeniably correct. Indeed, the RCA’s long failure to have […]

Bible

29 March 2016

Tagged Bible, Hebrew

“Shoshana has been borrowed in Latin and European languages to become Susanna (and its pet forms: Susie, Sue, Susan, Suzanne)”

The lovely girl in Song of Songs is compared to a lily of the valleys, a lily among thorns (2:1-2). Shoshana is […]

Orthodoxy

29 March 2016

Tagged Marc B. Shapiro, Marc Shapiro, Orthodoxy, Rabbi Andrew Gordimer, Rabbi Avraham Gordimer

“…it is important for the halakhic community to understand that there needs to be different paths for different people…”

…it is important for the halakhic community to understand that there needs to be different paths for different people as not everyone […]

Orthodoxy

28 March 2016

Tagged Attacks on Open Orthodoxy, Orthodoxy, Rabbi Andrew Gordimer, Rabbi Avraham Gordimer

“If the accusation of heresy is bandied about constantly, with flimsy basis…, then it will lose any sort of meaning”

I worry that the constant misrepresentation of the boundaries of heresy, such that the mere lack of conformance to a very narrow […]

Movies

28 March 2016

Tagged Entertainment, Hollywood, Movies

“At the moment that our foundational religious stories began to echo too distantly in the past, a new storytelling rose to supplement what time threatened to take from us”

Hollywood is not only a fun factory of vapid entertainment. At times, Hollywood plays an important role. The role of the ancient […]

Israel / Palestinians

27 March 2016

Tagged Israelis, Palestinians

“…our society is defined by the revulsion and deep sense of soul searching that has followed each incident. Theirs, simply, is not”

When Baruch Goldstein murdered 29 Palestinians in cold blood in 1994, Israeli society was rocked to the core by the horrible thought […]

Uncategorized

27 March 2016

Tagged Western Democracies

“Western democracies desperately need to recapture basic values of citizenship, of shared participation in pursuit of the common good…”

Western democracies desperately need to recapture basic values of citizenship, of shared participation in pursuit of the common good, if they want […]