Op-Ed: To Beard or Not to Beard, That is the Question

Last Updated on Sunday, 25 December 2011 12:12 Written by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach Sunday, 25 December 2011 11:46

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach - Musings on the fall of Matisyahu’s Facial Locks and Other Natural Disasters.

New York - Matisyahu is a friend of mine so I was not going to comment on his choice to shave off his beard. It was his personal decision. Live and let live. But I changed my mind when my children told me that they were reading all over the internet that young, impressionable, orthodox Jewish youth were also choosing to shave off their beards following Matisyahu’s lead (I’m assuming these were young men, rather than women, who made the choice). It was then that I decided to weigh in.

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Op-Ed: The Seven Wonders Of The Jewish World

Last Updated on Monday, 28 November 2011 09:49 Written by Nathan Slifkin / JPost Monday, 28 November 2011 09:36

The Dead Sea was not among the winners in the New7Wonders. Photo by: Marc Israel Sellem

Jerusalem - A new list: The 7 Wonders of the Jewish World, with “world” not being a geographical location, but the full realm of Jewish experience.

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Op-Ed: It’s Shameful Obama Had No Comment on Rubashkin Petition

Last Updated on Thursday, 03 November 2011 12:58 Written by Eliyahu Federman / JPost Thursday, 03 November 2011 12:41

New York - It’s shameful and insensitive that Obama would not even take the time to acknowledge sentencing disparities in our justice system.

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Op-Ed:The Whole Truth and Nothing But

Last Updated on Wednesday, 07 September 2011 13:53 Written by By Thomas L. Friedman/ The NY Times Wednesday, 07 September 2011 13:42

Kishore Mahbubani, a retired Singaporean diplomat, published a provocative essay in The Financial Times on Monday that began like this: “Dictators are falling. Democracies are failing".

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Op-Ed: In Israel, the Rent Is Too Damn High

Last Updated on Thursday, 04 August 2011 13:10 Written by Dimi Reider and Aziz Abu Sarah / NY Times Thursday, 04 August 2011 12:58

A 13 year old Israeli boy rests inside a tent in a protest tent encampment in central Jerusalem, Tuesday, July 26, 2011. Over the past two weeks, Israelis have set up tent camps in a handful of cities throughout the country, and organized protest marches and demonstrations calling attention to the soaring cost of living.

Tel Aviv -- There are profound and institutionalized economic disparities between Arabs and Jews in Israel. But when it comes to housing prices, an Israeli Arab who makes $1,000 a month and pays $500 in rent can still find common ground with an Israeli Jew making $2,000 and giving $1,000 to the landlord.

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Op-Ed: The Butchering of 8-Year-Old Leiby Kletzky

Last Updated on Thursday, 14 July 2011 23:13 Written by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach Rabbi and writer / Huffington Post Thursday, 14 July 2011 22:57

There are three reasons Hassidic Jews live together in tight-knit and often insular communities. The first is shared values. The second, a strong support network and security in number. And the third is a desire to filter out some of the corrosive elements of outside society from corrupting their children.

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Op-ed: Growing threat in America - Growing radicalization of Muslims in America constitutes a policy minefield for Israel

Last Updated on Monday, 20 June 2011 12:59 Written by Alex Joff/ Ynet Monday, 20 June 2011 10:47

Nature of population changing Photo: AFP

Two recent reports indicate that the nature of the US Muslim population is changing. This will have important implications for Israel.

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Purim: An Open Letter to a Concealed G-d

Last Updated on Friday, 18 March 2011 09:49 Written by By Simon Jacobson Friday, 18 March 2011 08:25

Dear G-d,

It’s been a while. How are You?

Though You didn’t ask, let me share with You how we are. Bluntly put: We’re not doing so well down here.

Last Friday night – as You surely know – a beautiful family was butchered in cold blood. A father, mother and their three children. Just to confirm that You get their names and ages right, to assure them their box seats in heaven, here is the exact spelling of their names: Udi Fogel, 36. Ruth Fogel, 35. Yoav Fogel, 11. Elad Fogel, 4. Hadas Fogel, 3 months.

Yes, You read that right, 3 months old… Throats slashed – all of them. What did they do wrong? They were sleeping in their home in the Promised Land, on a Friday night, after praying Shabbat services and eating the Shabbat meal, reciting blessings and singing Your praises.

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