Last week I allowed a careless error to evade my scrutiny when my blog accused the Jewish Week of being pro-Kahane. I had meant to say the Jewish Press. I must apologize unreservedly to the Jewish Week for the distress it will have caused its staff and readers. In my younger days, Martina Navratilova was considered one of the very best female tennis…
Kahane
To me, the name Meir Kahane conjures up an aspect of the Jewish people that I deplore. A racist, violent strain of narrow-minded primitive Jewish jingoism. His coarse, brutish language ignited hatred. And to try to justify him as a proud, committed Jew only makes his poison even more dangerous and morally dangerous. To generalize and call any group of…
Abortion
New York’s Reproductive Health Act was signed into law by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Jan. 22, to a standing ovation and acclaim by State Legislators. This new law allows abortion on the basis of “reasonable and good faith professional judgment based on the facts of the patient’s case” — “the patient is within twenty-four weeks from the commencement of pregnancy, or…
Jewish Political Theory
It is often said that neither the Bible nor Judaism has a theory of politics or, indeed, of political systems. Neither is true. For two thousand years, Jews lived under political systems where, even when they had a degree of communal political self-rule, it was always subservient to the ruling powers and systems of their host lands. After all this…
Unfair to Women
We live in interesting times where men may be women and women, men, and combinations of both and transitions in and out of the other. This is a reflection of the process of evolution or as some might say the slippery slope the western secular world is on, towards making no distinction at all. And in our societies, there are…
Sorry
You are walking down a crowded New York street minding your own business, careful to avoid bumping into anyone else. And an oncoming body smashes into you. He or she will ignore you or perhaps say “sorry” and you might say “sorry” back. Why? The offender doesn’t care. Otherwise he or she would have been more careful. And why are…