Joseph C. Kaplan, at The Blogs

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Jul 6, 2018, 11:17 PM

Ani Ledodi V’dodi Li

Since my retirement (It’s Not an Ugly Word, Ernest, 1/5/18), the two most frequent questions I’ve been asked are (a) are you enjoying it and (b) what are you doing with yourself? While the answer to the first is short and sweet (absolutely!!), the answer to...

Jun 15, 2018, 12:35 AM

A Two-Way Street Runs through Your Shul

A heated brouhaha rocked my shul recently. The specific dispute is not important for this column (okay, okay, it was, shockingly, related to Trump). While I had, as you might imagine, a strong opinion, which I voiced to the appropriate people, what particularly struck me...

May 25, 2018, 5:43 AM

An illogical impulse

Monty Hall, left, recipient of the 2nd Annual George Burns Lifetime Award, laughs with George Burns at the United Jewish Fund tribute to humanitarian Hall, in the Century City section of Los Angeles, on March 14, 1993.(AP Photo/Julie Markes, File)

Took a close look at the lives of ordinary individuals who did the right thing in extraordinary circumstances

May 10, 2018, 7:58 PM

You can go home again

Coney Island Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. (Wikipedia)

Tom Wolfe clearly never ate at Izzy’s Brooklyn Smokehouse. OK, let me back up a bit and explain. Brooklyn is very far from Teaneck. Very. Far. But when wedding chores demand it, to Brooklyn one must go. So, one bridge, one tunnel, a few tolls,...

Apr 19, 2018, 9:13 PM

The Only Constant in Life

Let me try to keep some of the Pesach spirit alive by beginning this column with a multiple choice question: Change is (a) good, (b) bad, (c) scary, (d) difficult, (e) all of the above, or (f) all of the above plus some more adjectives...

Mar 29, 2018, 9:24 PM

God’s Finger Touched Him and He Slept

My first column in the Jewish Standard was a remembrance of Rabbi Dr. Eugene Borowitz, one of the major theologians of the Reform movement in the 20th century, who recently had died. He was also the founder and editor of Sh’ma magazine, and I was...

Mar 15, 2018, 9:23 PM

The Coward Dies a Thousand Deaths

One of the joys of writing this column is getting comments, both complimenting and agreeing with me as well as criticizing and disagreeing with me. Of course, I prefer the former — who wouldn’t? — but I find the latter also worthwhile for two reasons....

Mar 1, 2018, 9:50 PM

Micro and macro of Israel Visit

When I was about bar mitzvah age, a family in my synagogue spent Sukkot in Israel. This was deemed so exotic that on their return, the shul sponsored a Friday evening oneg Shabbat for them to discuss their unusual experience. And in my early married...

Feb 15, 2018, 8:33 PM

How Jews Should Argue

Before I left for my Israeli vacation, I began following the brouhaha over the suggestion by a yeshiva high school that its students send a thank-you letter to the president for his decision concerning Jerusalem and a similar suggestion by a local rabbi to his...

Jan 25, 2018, 11:36 PM

Teaching our Children to Fish

I read the article about Orthodox parents sending their children to public schools, “Frum Times in Teaneck High” (January 12), on the Friday night it first appeared. To be frank, I didn’t like it, so I reread it after Shabbat, hoping that I would feel...

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About Me

Joseph C. Kaplan, a regular columnist for the Jewish Standard, is a long-time resident of Teaneck. His work has also appeared in various publications including Sh’ma magazine, The New York Jewish Week, The Baltimore Jewish Times, and, as letters to the editor, The New York Times.