Cattle prods, beatings, extortion, blackmail, revenge, and most of all money, are at the heart of the latest agunah-related scandal. Mendel Epstein, with his long white beard and saintly look, and a rosh yeshiva from Monsey, Martin Wolmark, took hundreds of thousands of dollars from desperate agunot—whose recalcitrant husbands threatened them with

In a survey done in Israel and released last summer, the Geocartography Research Institute of the Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women at Bar-Ilan University found that 50 percent of harediwomen in Israel are threatened with getextortion. The survey’s potential sampling error is 5.5 percent with a 95 percent

Like a classic Kansas tornado in early summer, the statistics left a path of destruction in their wake that would make the heartiest of storm-chasers gawk in amazement. The recent data on “Jewish Identity” released by the world famous Pew Research Center has shocked many, prodding expert after expert to chime in with their take on what the results mean for

Two children, a brother and sister, are fighting: calling each other names, bringing each other to tears. Their father stays out of it at first. He’s hoping his kids will work things out on their own, but they don’t. The bickering escalates until the father finally throws them into a time-out. He wants his children to think about what they’ve done. He

We are all familiar with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. One of the central parts of the tale is when the wicked stepmother, in a fit of jealousy, decides that Snow White must be eliminated. She disguises herself as a pleasant old woman and puts a poisoned apple in her basket. Despite Snow White’s reluctance to open the door, the evil stepmother convinces

A Jewish weaver pictured in 1918 in the small town of Ramadi in the middle Euphrates region of Iraq. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

A few years ago, in response to a Palestinian critic who made a disparaging remark about the fact that I don’t speak Arabic, I felt compelled to write an article explaining why that is the case. I said that under different

Sukkot is gone. You’ve ordered your annual bouquet of palm fronds, citrons, myrtle, and willows—the famous Four Species. Given the state of the economy these days, it’s painful to buy anything that you can only use once. Why not stretch the value of your lulavand etrogthis year with a little creative repurposing post-festival? When they can be

The internet has been abuzz this week after Miley Cyrus’s raunchy performance at the Video Music Awards, but I’m honestly confused by all the hoopla. Miley’s “We Can’t Stop” VMA dance was not much different than the video version of it, which to date has over 160 million YouTube hits. To be clear, I found both the video and the live performance to

Once again, the United States is facing the unenviable task of playing global policeman. This time it is Syriandespot Bashar Assad.

A monster so vile, he has deployed chemical weapons upon his own people. While most of the worldwide community knows we must do something to end this nightmare wearestuck on the question of what that response should

I was recently in the U.S. celebrating two beautiful weddings, multiple festive Sheva Brachotand one wonderful 80 ^thbirthday party. Landing in Israel after a five-hour delay followed by a ten-hour flight, I was exhausted. My son and daughter-in-law graciously picked us up from Ben-Gurion Airport with my car, and I proceeded to drive them

When I took my eldest daughter, Atara, to Israel three-and-a-half years ago shortly before her bat mitzvah, my intent was to afford her the special privilege of visiting the Jewish homeland and allowing her to have an experience unlike anything she had ever had before. It turned out to be a life-altering experience for her. From that point onward, my daughter

“Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh.” The sound of a motorboat? No, these are the sounds actually uttered by a man who davenedSelichos next to me several years ago. He is not to be confused with the man who uttered “Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh” or the one who blabbered, “Vuh-vuh-vuh-vuh-vuh-vuh-vuh.” The Artscroll Selichos machzorstates: “The