The Scapegoat of Deflategate
This past week, the NFL released their report on the deflated football controversy in connection with the New England Patriots, also known as “Deflategate”. “So what’s going on?” asks Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, president of Clal and co-founder and executive editor of TheWisdomDaily.com, “The scapegoat here was Tom Brady. The bigger goat, the better goat that was kept aside and...
Read moreWhat About Nepal?
As stories of unrest in Baltimore dominate the media, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield speculates about the quick disappearance of the earthquake in Nepal, where more than 5,000 people are dead, from the news and consciousness of Americans. Part of the problem, says Hirschfield, is that the Nepalese government does not know how to respond, so aid isn’t arriving where it...
Read moreRiot at the Western Wall
This week a riot ensued at the Western Wall in Jerusalem when a group of Jewish women and men defied a ban that prohibits women from reading from the Torah. Rabbi Brad Hirschfield asks how do we appreciate the “other” and “what do you do when you encounter or witness something that you think is generally wrong?”
Read moreAaron Hernandez and Life Without Parole: A Just Sentence?
This week former NFL player Aaron Hernandez was convicted of murder and sentenced to life without parole. “Was justice served?” asks Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, president of Clal and co-founder and executive editor of TheWisdomDaily.com. And “does it matter if you believe in the possibility of forgiveness, salvation, redemption or human change?”
Read moreConversion Therapy: Gay Rights or Public Health?
This week President Barack Obama released a statement condemning the practice of reparative, or conversion therapy designed to “treat” gay, lesbian and transgender youth. According to Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, president of Clal and co-founder and executive editor of TheWisdomDaily.com, this is not a gay rights issue, but “a public health issue, and very much in the domain of the...
Read moreRabbi Brad Hirschfield on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act
Lawmakers in Indiana and Alabama are facing a firestorm after they enacted new legislation around religious freedoms, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which critics say is designed to discriminate against LGBT citizens. “Profound misunderstandings” around religion and religious ideology, says Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, president of Clal and co-founder and executive editor of TheWisdomDaily.com, “are getting in the way...
Read moreGermanwings Flight 9525: Where Was God?
As more details emerge as to the causes of the Germanwings Flight 9525 plane crash on Tuesday, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield considers how those who lost loved ones may find meaning in the tragedy. Within all the questions they may be asking themselves, one may be ‘Where Was God’? While this may be offensive to some, for Rabbi Hirschfield “in a...
Read moreIf Martese Johnson Was White
In an atmosphere of heightened racial tensions, particularly between police and young African American men, Martese Johnson was arrested this week for underage drinking. The force used by police during his arrest, which left him bloodied and in need of stitches, has shocked many and led to renewed cries of racial prejudice by police. Rabbi Brad Hirschfield tells us...
Read moreRabbi Brad Hirschfield on Racist Chants and Free Speech
This week the University of Oklahoma expelled two students and shut down the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity after a video showed them chanting and making racist slurs. Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, president of Clal and co-founder and executive editor of TheWisdomDaily.com wonders if “we’re on a collision course between protecting free speech… and responding to the very real issues of...
Read moreJustice Not Vengeance: Curt Schilling and Cyberbullies
This week retired baseball player Curt Schilling made headlines when he went after the Twitter trolls who posted offensive comments about his daughter. Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, president of Clal and co-founder and executive editor of TheWisdomDaily.com, agrees that Schilling did the right thing, but cautions that we should “name and shame appropriately but then not make one bad act...
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