The Big Picture

Think of a video streamed through narrow bandwidth, full of ugly artifacts and audio distortion. Optimism loosens the constrictions, widens the bandwidth and allows the video to flow through in hi-res. That's fundamentally different from the law of attraction...

I don't understand why there are constant ups and downs and such hardships in the Torah.

The common assumption is that spirituality and sensuality are mutually exclusive. Who says? Sensuality is not something we are meant to kill. It lies at the core of human spirituality--even of...

There’s something clearly pointing me in a specific direction. How do I know if it’s a sign from G‑d saying “This is what I want you to do”—or a test to see whether I can withstand the pressure?

Since I despise G‑d, how can I go to services? And am I still obligated to fast on Yom Kippur?

You write that Israel's popularity has suffered since the First Gulf War in 1991. This is surprising to hear. As far as I can recall, I do not remember any time that Israel was popular, from the time she was granted autonomy to the present day. But then, in all of history, when was it popular to be nice?

How on earth can sins become merits? Sins are despicable deeds in the eyes of the One who made you. So, now you regret them. How can your regret today reach back and transform something written solidly in the record of the past?

Judaism has been understood as the effort to reunite the feminine and masculine aspects of G-d.

Hillel said that all of Torah is about caring for the other guy, and the rest is commentary. On the other hand, traditional Judaism says that we must follow all of the commandments to be on G‑d’s good side . . .

Every logical system relies on the a priori acceptance of unprovable first principles.

Isms are the creation of the Hegelian mind, which is compelled to pigeonhole all human thought into theses and antitheses and their tidy resolution—a cute paradigm that tells us a lot about academia, and almost nothing about Jews and Jewish thought.

You seriously want me to pray for "our beleaguered brothers and sisters in the Holy Land"? They have created the mess they now deplore and have subjugated 1.5 million Gazans to three years of inhumane and intolerable hell…

You're telling us that what we need is to light symbolic candles and do a mitzvah? We're talking about a very real threat to our people! We're talking survival of the fittest! Get real...

G‑d’s home is to be created with work and sweat. He wants paintings—not prints. He doesn’t want it to be built off His inspiration alone. He wants us to reach deep within our souls and inspire ourselves.

Differing customs reflect the multiplicity of ways of relating to G‑d that characterize our people.

I have strayed far away from the hard drugs I once took, and feel that marijuana is a safe way for me to indulge myself from time to time.