Work

More than 60 percent of ultra-Orthodox men in Israel do not work, compared with 15 percent in the general population, and he argued that full-time, state-financed study should be reserved for great scholars destined to become rabbis or religious judges. “Those who are not that way inclined,” he said, “should go out and earn a […]

Argument

If you want to know America, you should come at Christmas. Friendly and presumptive, open yet closed, demonstrably extravagant, yet charitable. Plenty of us don’t even celebrate it, although you would hardly know this from the panic in the air today. I remember, as a child, realizing that people could die on Christmas. Bad things […]

Virgin Birth

I don’t know what possessed me to watch the documentary “The Business of Being Born.” Several women give birth at home in this movie, and you see every detail of how it happens. I wondered– very theoretically since I currently am in no danger of giving birth– whether labor is more like getting a root […]

The Wait

Everyone is waiting for someone. Everyone you see, his heart is an airport in an ice storm. Some people are waiting on someone to pair up with, and others are waiting for someone to stop telling that story again or to load the dishwasher or be like she used to be. Western people are uniquely […]