_(english).jpg "My Son's Yarmulka")
_(english).jpg "Soul Food")
_(english).jpg "Searching for Superman")
_(english).jpg "Tammuz: Forces of Nature")
_(english).jpg "America and Jewish Values")
_(english).jpg "Seven Wonders of Jewish History")
+.jpg "Bilaam Versus Abraham")
+.jpg "Friends and Family")
+.jpg "Following the Leader")
About the Author
Rabbi Avi Shafran
Rabbi Shafran is an editor at large and columnist for Ami Magazine.
Is Anybody There?
by Rabbi Avi ShafranNew studies demonstrate how people thought to be in an irreversible “vegetative” state showed signs of full consciousness.
Cremation: A Burning Issue
by Rabbi Avi ShafranEven after death, the body is a holy vessel that deserves respect.
Blowing Up Synagogues
by Rabbi Avi ShafranThe recent arrest of two NY terrorists reminds us to give thanks to the Guardian of the Jewish People.
Moses and the Pope
by Rabbi Avi ShafranThe recent beatification of Pope John Paul II highlights Judaism's unique basis of belief.
Scapegoat
by Rabbi Avi ShafranMeaning or randomness: confronting mutually exclusive worldviews on Yom Kippur.
Great Expectations
by Rabbi Avi ShafranDuring the first days of the Jewish year everything matters.
Emmanuel: Ethnic Prejudice?
by Rabbi Avi ShafranIt is neither ethnic nor prejudice. Here are the facts.
Someone's There
by Rabbi Avi ShafranPatients thought to be in a vegetative state were demonstrated to be hearing and thinking.
_(english).jpg "The Nature of Nature")
_(english).jpg "Terrorized Times")
_(english).jpg "Deconstructing Dayeinu")
_(english).jpg "Brazen New World")
Brazen New World
by Rabbi Avi ShafranEnding a human life is not a medical decision, it's a moral one.
_(english).gif "Survivors")
Survivors
by Rabbi Avi ShafranHolocaust memorials usually fail to convey something vital: Europe's Jews didn't just die; they lived, too.
_(english).gif "The Sukkah Still Stands")
The Sukkah Still Stands
by Rabbi Avi ShafranNo matter how vulnerable our physical fortresses may be, we give harbor to neither despair nor insecurity.
_(english).jpg "Soulless")
_(english).gif "Wings and Prayers")
_(english).jpg "Partial - Birth")
_(english).gif "The Shofar Shoes")
_(english).jpg "Killing Me Softly")
_(english).jpg "The Anger of the Atheists")
The Anger of the Atheists
by Rabbi Avi ShafranIf morality and ethics are rendered meaningless, how's a principled atheist supposed to respond to injustice?
_(english).jpg "The Indignity of Atheism")
The Indignity of Atheism
by Rabbi Avi ShafranOne who sees only random forces behind why we humans find ourselves here is ultimately bound only by his wants.
_(english).gif "Misleading Times")
Misleading Times
by Rabbi Avi ShafranNo one should be permitted to deny what is perhaps the most ancient and legitimate claim of any people on any piece of land. Not even The New York Times.
_(english).jpg "Random Suffering?")
Random Suffering?
by Rabbi Avi ShafranNot a chance. Adversity -- wherever it strikes, whomever it takes and whomever its spares -- always has a reason, even when it cannot be discerned.
_(english).jpg "Burning Issue")
Burning Issue
by Rabbi Avi ShafranIsrael's first crematorium opens for business. What would Moses say?
_(english).gif "Verbal Violence")
Verbal Violence
by Rabbi Avi ShafranMore media bias from the New York Times. This time unrelated to the Middle East.
_(english).gif "Immoral Equivalence")
Immoral Equivalence
by Rabbi Avi ShafranThe Jews and their enemies today are no more morally equivalent than are the Peace Corps and Al Qaeda.
_(english).jpg "No Thanks, Mr. Gandhi")
No Thanks, Mr. Gandhi
by Rabbi Avi ShafranI reject your apology because you have missed the point of why your post was so offensive.
_(english).jpg "Mel, Kofi and Me")
Mel, Kofi and Me
by Rabbi Avi ShafranLike soft drinks and poison, anti-Semitism comes in various flavors and strengths.
_(english).gif "Whose Abraham?")
_(english).jpg "Trains")
Trains
by Rabbi Avi ShafranContrasting our problems with the difficulties previous Jewish generations had to endure puts some things in to perspective.
_(english).jpg "Gaza and Redemption")
Gaza and Redemption
by Rabbi Avi ShafranTrue justice will be brought with Jewish observance, Jewish study, Jewish tears, Jewish love.
_(english).jpg "Chosen")
Chosen
by Rabbi Avi ShafranIt's not our Intelligence Quotients that count, but our Righteousness Quotients.
_(english).gif "Super Powers")
_(english).jpg "Sublimating Strife")
_(english).jpg "Creatures and Teachers")
Creatures and Teachers
by Rabbi Avi ShafranMaimonides' mystifying rodent and the limits of science.
_(english).jpg "The Conversion Vaccine")
The Conversion Vaccine
by Rabbi Avi ShafranThe best defense to the ambitious "Jews for Jesus" missionary campaign.
_(english).jpg "Life Itself")
Life Itself
by Rabbi Avi ShafranIn the Netherlands emotional pain is sufficient legal justification to assist in one's suicide. What is happening to the immeasurable value in human life?
_(english).jpg "Why A.B.Yehoshua Is Wrong")
Why A.B.Yehoshua Is Wrong
by Rabbi Avi ShafranMaybe, just maybe, Judaism -- Jewish belief and practice as prescribed by the Jewish religious tradition -- is the key to Jewish continuity.
_(english).gif "Bar Mitzvah Motivators")
Bar Mitzvah Motivators
by Rabbi Avi ShafranThe concept of "bar mitzvah" has drifted incredibly far from its true meaning in these materialistic times.
_(english).jpg "Shedding Light on Anti-Semitism")
_(english).gif "Are Jews Smarter?")
Are Jews Smarter?
by Rabbi Avi ShafranDon't let a recent study about enhanced intellectual ability among Jews go to your head.
_(english).gif "The Shechita Controversy")
The Shechita Controversy
by Rabbi Avi ShafranThe "PETA Principle," the moral equating of animals and humans, is an affront to the very essence of Jewish belief.
_(english).gif "She Just Doesn't Get It")
She Just Doesn't Get It
by Rabbi Avi ShafranThe essential outrage of "Holocaust on Your Plate" was not that it injured feelings, but rather that it equated human beings with cows, pigs and chickens.
_(english).jpg "A Truly Historic Lawsuit")
A Truly Historic Lawsuit
by Rabbi Avi ShafranA lawsuit is being filed against the Jewish people for recovery of property stolen during their exodus from Egypt. The Talmud tells of precisely such a claim lodged over 2000 years ago.
