To the editor: It was unfortunate that Malka Eisenberg chose to give a largely unchallenged forum to Pamela Geller, who is, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, “anti-Muslim movement’s most visible and flamboyant figurehead.” http://bit.ly/njgAJU. more

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session. Article 2, Section 2 of The United States Constitution. Just prior to Shabbos last week, the Washington D.C. District Federal Appeals Court made a landmark decision. more

In my 13 years as a trustee of CUNY, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to observe the intellectual corruption and anti-Semitism of many in America’s academic elite. I hear about it from trustees in colleges and universities across America and it’s become more common at CUNY, with Brooklyn College as an unexpected hotbed. more

The media will tell you that Israelis have voted, the election is over and Bibi Netanyahu has been reelected by a small margin to his third term as prime minister---100% true and 100% useless. In Israel, the election is just one part of the political process: as of today the politics truly begin. more

This week the Hasidic community in Brooklyn exploded with the news that Nechemya Weberman, an unlicensed youth counselor, was convicted on 59 counts of sexual molestation of a young girl whom he had been counseling. He was sentenced to a staggering 103 years in the state penitentiary. Weberman had been counseling this young teen, although he had no license and no professional training and no legal right to counsel this young victim. more

Saving a life in Jewish law is given very special consideration. According to Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, whose 30th yahrtzeit is this Friday, in his “Handbook of Jewish Thought” states that, “When life is endangered, all religious laws may be totally disregarded.” more

So here we are, last week in January. It’s kind of odd that I’m here in New York. For as long as I can remember, during the Yeshiva winter break, I’ve always been away. Wait, I take that back, there was one time back in the 90s when we stayed home and took day trips with the kids, it almost seemed like an experiment, to see if the children (and parents, I guess), years down the line, would have any long standing psychological effects from having to actually remain at home. So far, we all seem to have no symptoms…but we all have funny memories of vacations past. more

It is hard to imagine, looking down at the windswept desert floor far below, what it must have been like 2000 years ago, to be a Jewish rebel soldier atop the isolated fortress of Masada. What kept you going, as you gazed down at the might of three Roman Legions, bent on your destruction? more

In this most dramatic of Torah portions, the opening pesukim (verses) read like storyboards of a film’s opening sequence of images around the locale where it is set. The people turn from going straight along the Mediterranean coast towards the Red Sea. Moshe is arranging the transfer of Yosef’s bones. They travel from Sukkos (first stop 12:37). We then see the people during the day being led by the Pillar of Clouds. In the dark of night, the Pillar of Fire provides the necessary light and protection. more

Now that Inauguration Day has passed and both the President and Congress have been sworn in, it is time for the executive and legislative branches of government to go back to swearing at each other. more