Posts Tagged: Rabbi Pini Dunner
How Shabbat Observance Has Preserved the Jewish People
Sometime in the 18th century, a group of Russian-Orthodox Christians revolted against the strict hierarchical religious environment of Russian-Orthodoxy and embraced Judaism -- or at...
An Education in Jewish Education
You will probably have heard about the controversy raging over general studies at Orthodox Jewish day schools that has erupted in New York over the...
Respect History, but Forge a New Path
This week saw the launch of my debut book, Mavericks, Mystics & False Messiahs, marking the end of a long and enjoyable literary journey. Late last...
What’s Needed Now Is Jewish Unity
Tragedy can bring out the best in people, and it can also bring out the worst. After the horrific massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh...
The Story of Lot — and the Two-State Solution
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” We’ve all heard that quote dozens, if not hundreds, of...
Lech Lecha: How Abraham Learned to Speak
In the summer of 1725, a group of hunters near Hamelin, Lower Saxony, spotted a strange looking creature, unlike any animal they had ever seen...
A Message of Hope for the Future
The late Stanley Abramovitch, who passed away five years ago without much fanfare, was one of the 20th century’s great Jewish heroes. You will be forgiven for...
Ki Tavo: The Pursuit of Happiness
How does one measure happiness? It seems like a simple question, but as it turns out, there is no simple answer. Researchers struggle to define happiness,...
Jeremy Corbyn’s Antisemitism Isn’t Even the Worst of It
The last time that I wrote about Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the UK’s Labour Party, was over two years ago. At the time Corbyn...
Do We Have Free Will? And Does It Matter?
One of the major topics tackled by Greek philosophy is the existence of free will. Are human beings capable of making choices, or are their choices determined by...
For the Love of God, Don’t Arrest Your Opponents
Last Thursday, Israeli police detained Dov Haiyun, rabbi of the Conservative Moriah Congregation in Haifa, after a complaint was filed at the Haifa Rabbinical Court...
Why We Must Commemorate and Honor the Past
Earlier this week, a large group attended the final lecture in my spring/summer Jewish history series, to hear about “The Wild Wild West: Orthodox Jewish...
The Torah — and Trump’s Embrace of a Dictator
This week we witnessed momentous and unprecedented scenes in Singapore -- as the president of the United States sat down with the leader of North...
Pharaoh and His Picture of Dorian Gray
Earlier this month, a stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s iconic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray opened at a theater in Chicago. The new production -- which sets the...
