Please take a look back at past essays, popular and scholarly, that explore the profound contemporary relevance of Chanukah and how the cultural battle against Hellenism remains the defining condition of the Jewish people.
Seeking direction in a misdirected world
Torah Ideals
Kindling the Lights of Wisdom
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- Behind the Hero on the Screen
- Bullying and Anti-Semitism
- Cellphones
- Elbowing God Out
- Embracing the Telescreen
- Fed Up!
- Freedom to Think
- Guns or Butter?
- How to Stop a Fight
- If you could be Superman
- Interview with a Repentant Vampire
- Isn't it Ironic?
- Legal Larceny
- My intolerance of faith
- Nothing but the Truth
- Profile in Courage and Conscience
- Searching for the Way out of Exile
- Skeleton in my Closet
- Spiritual Gridlock
- The Death Watch
- The Drifters: a generation lost in space
- The Gift of Boredom
- The Happiness Quotient
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe
- The Illusion of Influence
- The Limits of Liberalism
- The Man on the Street
- The Midpoint of the World
- The Poetry of Pop
- The Power to Change the World
- The Second Amendment and the Oral Torah
- The Unfairness Doctrine
- Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright
- Tony Soprano
- Vengeance is Mine
- What Ferguson teaches us about ourselves
- When Prejudices Become Principles
- When Violence seems the only Answer
Education and Parenting
- A Matter of Respect
- Building Character and Acquiring a Civil Tongue
- Handle with Care
- In Praise of Struggle
- Mirroring Parents
- Mistaking Identity
- No More Training Wheels
- Skydiving
- Thanking the Garbage Man
- The Danger of Lowering our Expectations
- The Death of Education?
- The Fallacy of Moral Relativism
- The Language of Confusion
- The TV Fix
- What teachers really want to tell parents
Festivals
Science and Nature
- Atheists in Bubbleland
- Dance with Joy
- Darwin's Appendix
- Face Off
- Is Altruism a Programmed Response?
- It's Right Before Your Eyes
- Noah Redux
- Random Nature?
- Spiritual Dialysis and the Biology of Virtue
- The Betrayal of Experience
- The Girl with X-Ray Eyes
- The Great Mistake
- The Illusion of Wisdom
- The Natural Order
- The Scent of Spirit
- The search for disorder
- The Self-Esteem Fallacy
- Walking in Circles
Tragedy and Suffering
- After the War is Over
- Flight 1549
- Grappling with the Mysteries of the Universe
- How the righteous have fallen
- Making Sense out of Senselessness
- Refelctions on 9/11
- Reflections on the Pacific Rim Tsunami
- Revisiting the Cause of Terror
- Spiritual Impressionism
- The Other Face of Tragedy
- The Puzzle Master
- The True Rewards of Giving
- Two Cheers for Pain
- What is Faith?
Torah Ideals 