Rabbi Avi Shafran

Shunning of Wigs Exposes Media Flaw

Published on June 3, 2004

The media had a grand time recently when tens of thousands of Jewish women stopped wearing their wigs out of concern that they might contain hair that had been offered to an idol. The more revealing story, though, lay not in the deep dedication to the Second Commandment but in the feeding frenzy of the Fourth Estate.

Seek the Right Motivation for Fetes

Published on August 7, 2003

Meet Lorne Hughes, a young non-Jewish gentleman from the Virgin Islands clad in a form-fitting black outfit, who "regularly spends his weekends dancing with 13-year-olds at bar mitzvahs," according to an article that appeared in The New York Times on May 30, 2003.

Ethics and Ironies

Published on November 14, 2002

In our sex-saturated -- and in fact, as a result, sexist -- society, men and women eschewing handshakes to avoid any semblance of misplaced sexuality might seem a bit much to many.

Dissembling Before G-d

Published on February 21, 2002

Many audiences and reviewers have found "Trembling Before G-d's" portrayal of the anguish faced by Jews who want to remain Orthodox but see themselves as homosexual to be compelling.

Unity Holiday

Published on May 24, 2001

Whatever the reason, Judaism's summer-season holiday has come to be neglected by much of the American Jewish community.

Common Sense and Common Ground

Published on February 11, 1999

If one didn't know better (and many, unfortunately, don't), one might have thought that the new millennium had dawned 11 months early, and had heralded an entirely unexpected second coming in Israel -- that of Jim Crow, with non-Orthodox Jews as his victims.

Will the Real Orthodox Please Stand Up?

Published on July 10, 1997

The fracas this past Shavuot at the Western Wall, in which a group of Conservative worshippers became the target of epithets and projectiles cast by a group of out-of-control Orthodox Jews, prompted a number of non-Orthodox leaders to hurl some words of their own.