Recent current events reminded me of a beautiful story I heard years ago. A boy was shorter than his younger brother, and it bothered him greatly. One day, he shoved his brother into a shallow ditch, and then stood beside him and gloated that he was now taller. His father, Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch, approached with a stool. He helped his younger son out of the ditch, and then instructed the older boy to stand on the stool. Who...

Clockwise from top left: Bill T. Jones, Gloria Steinem, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Salman Rushdie, Wynton Marsalis and Margaret Atwood

Is our democracy truly at risk right now, or is this simply an alarmist exaggeration from those with some political axe to grind?

Over 100 intellectuals and writers from across the spectrum of political affiliation have come together to write and sign this very important and timely letter which warns...

With all of its flaws and opportunities for improvement, what is great about America is the ideal, enshrined in its founding documents, that all of its citizens are free to believe and practice as they choose. 

There are those who believe at this moment that America's independence is not something to celebrate. They are highly attuned to the oppression that mars our history and the bias and inequity that continue to exist even...

I read an interesting line today from an author I respect, Jonathan Tobin:  "Those who marched in the past for civil rights did so not because they felt that America was an irredeemably racist nation that needed to be completely rethought, but because they thought racism was a betrayal of the nation’s founding principles."  (https://bit.ly/2zXjzVI)

One of the essential questions at this moment seems to be this: is racism a...

25 years ago, I married the spectacular woman who I had been lucky enough to meet and fall in love with eight years earlier when we were in highschool. I have been blessed with her companionship and guidance, and with the beautiful family that we have worked together to raise.

This is not a love note to my wife. I will send her that privately. This is a note that I wanted to share publicly as I thought about the lessons we have...