David Singer

Aharon Lichtenstein is a leading figure in modern Orthodox circles. Indeed, his standing in the modern Orthodox camp goes beyond mere respect. For some, in both the United States and Israel, he has become a full-fledged cultural hero. Born in 1933, Lichtenstein first attained star status as a young . . . . Continue Reading »

David Berger would seem an unlikely candidate for the role of heresy hunter. A mild-mannered professor of Jewish history at Brooklyn College and Yeshiva University, he has been a liberal advocate of tolerant pluralism within the ranks of Orthodox Judaism and a willing participant in theological . . . . Continue Reading »

Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy: The Life and Works of Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg, 1884–1966 By Marc B. Shapiro Littman Library of Jewish Civilization. 288 pp. $49.50 By the standards of academia, it was an extraordinary, even impossible, gesture. The editor of a scholarly . . . . Continue Reading »

Iwould like to have an answer. . . . If someone will be good enough to provide the answer I will gladly take his change of garments to the bathhouse for him.” The bit about the change of garments and the bathhouse is talmudic phraseology from tractate Eruvin (27b), indicating a matter . . . . Continue Reading »

My subject is “The Orthodox Jew as Intellectual Crank,” and it would be best if I began with some definitions. My dictionary defines a crank as an “ill-tempered, grouchy person,” as an “eccentric person who is overzealous in his advocacy of a private cause.” By these standards, Baruch . . . . Continue Reading »