Op-Eds
Op-Eds by our Officers and Fellows do not necessarily represent the views or focus issues of the CJV.
Cry the Beloved Country
Justice and fairness do not require equal results, only equal opportunities. Indeed, communism/socialism proposes the injustice of equal results. So if some are born blind, since their vision cannot be restored, shall all others be blinded?
To My Family of Readers — What to Know and Expect When Severe Illness Hits Close to Home: A Guide (Part 2 of 2)
This concludes the quadrilogy arising from the recent passing of my precious wife of 20 years, Ellen the love of my life.
To My Family of Readers — What to Know and Expect When Severe Illness Hits Close to Home: A Guide (Part 1 of 2)
I share observations that, although sometimes personal and in some discrete instances unique to my Orthodox Jewish religious faith and practices, I think also are universal and will help many readers navigate your own future experiences.
The Women’s Semicha Exam Subversion Scheme in Eretz Yisroel
Torah interests in Eretz Yisroel are in serious trouble. In order to appreciate the issues and have any sense of true insight, we must take a step back and look at the Halacha, the history, the personalities involved and the agenda behind this women’s “semicha” campaign.
In Memoriam: For Ellen, My Precious Wife of Twenty Years, the Love of My Life — Part 2 of 2
She was the love of my life, my “partner in crime,” and the reason and encouragement that motivated me to return to writing, to teaching law, and to serve again as a congregational rabbi after a prior career of 10 years in the pulpit.
In Memoriam: For Ellen, My Precious Wife of Twenty Years, the Love of My Life — Part 1 of 2
I have had to scale back my writing a bit these past four months because of the hardest, most challenging experience of my life. You are my family, so I share: The love of my life, my wife Ellen, was fading.
Judaism is Emphatically “Pro-Life”
The Jewish Bible’s position on life is unambiguous—and unambiguously “pro-life.” It is the source for the value placed on human life in civilized Western society. The Torah identifies human life as a soul placed (breathed) within a body by G-d Himself.
A Young Israel rabbi weighs in on Reform Judaism and Jewish Unity – Part 2
In America for many years, we have been witnessing the Left’s double standards. When they are not in power, they speak of “equality” and “fairness.” They endlessly invoke the specter of 1950s “McCarthyism” as their mantra, their never-ending claim, even now, that they face “blacklisting” and discrimination in employment. And then, as soon as they have even the slightest influence and upper hand, they turn around and ferociously impose blacklists on others with whom they disagree.
Where Is The Jewish Al Sharpton?
The old story goes that two Jews were brought before a firing squad to be executed by the czar’s army. As they were being blindfolded, one of them shouts, “Down with the czar!” The other Jew, horrified to hear that, cries out to his friend, “Shah shtill, don’t make trouble!”
What Type of Fool Shoots a Cop With a Taser or Wrestles Him for His Gun?
The very first time I saw the Derek Chauvin–George Floyd video I was disgusted. I yelled at my screen, “Get off the guy’s neck, you #$%!” So I was ready to get disgusted again when I first accessed the video of the fellow in Georgia who recently was killed by a cop there. And then I saw something that seemed so crazy that I replayed the video eight times because I kept not believing what I thought I was seeing.