click to dowload our latest edition
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
I used to be a hypochondriac. Until I discovered that I, in fact, suffer from something far more current, and far more insidious. It’s called cyber-chondria. And, as far as I...
I have never forgotten. And never forgiven the elephant. Not that he has any idea. It was many years ago, at a lodge not unlike the...
Earlier this week on air, I asked listeners a simple question: If you had your own personal customer service line, what would people complain about most? The answers...
We stood just off to the side of the post-Shabbat crowd, engaged in polite conversation. It was just after Passover. Kiddush had returned, along with the...
The idea that G-d “hardened Pharaoh’s heart” has long been a source of debate at our seder table. One of my children, now an adult, but...
Context is everything, which is why you need to know this before hearing my side of the story. For the past nine months I have been...
It sounded more fun than it was. “When you come upstairs,” I called down to my wife, “please bring disposable gloves and a plastic packet.” She didn’t need...
Ideas for a Purim shpiel on ChaiFM are debated weeks before the festival. What is too real? Too close to the bone? Too sensitive? Too dated? And most importantly,...
Although I swore I never would, I finally gave in and tried the whole “cold plunge” thing. I got behind a trend that chiselled people swear...
There are two kinds of people in shul. The first comes to daven. The second comes to audit. The first wants a minyan, a siddur, and silence....
Unless I’m reading the transcript at a Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa hearing, I can barely remember what I said on air this morning. And yet, today, 35 years to...
There are Jewish festivals. And then there are Jewish Jewish festivals. And even at the risk of angering global-warming enthusiasts everywhere, I remain of the firm belief that Tu B’Shvat is the...
We had just finished dinner, when my wife asked if I wanted her to make me a chicken salad to take for lunch the next day. It...
There are two types of people in the world: those who respect rules and those who don’t. My late father took regulations very seriously. My late mother...
Mattel has unveiled its first autistic Barbie. She comes with a fidget spinner, avoids eye contact, and arrives in a box of corporate virtue. Representation, we’re told, matters....
We comforted ourselves with the fantasy that if antisemitism ever surged, it would show up slowly on the radar, giving us time to sip our tea...
I’m inventing a new word today. Right here, in this column. I don’t often coin new terms, but when the dictionary fails us, someone has to step in. The word is “fringing”. Fringing (verb): The act of pushing...
Anyone who says they aren’t a fan of Hallmark Christmas movies is either a liar or a jilted fiancé. You remember him? He’s the finance bro, always named Jayce or Tyler, who watches helplessly...
Black Friday used to mean queues outside shops at 05:00. Today it’s much more sophisticated. We sit at home in pyjamas hitting “refresh” on Takealot like we’re trying to resuscitate the economy. Credit cards...
Farmer Pete, it seems, feels very strongly about eggs. Or chickens. Or perhaps the fragile balance between the two. Which is why, according to the New York Post, he...
My relationship with my bean-to-cup coffee machine isn’t a particularly good one. And whereas I know that every partnership has its ups and downs, this time...
The other day, I was wrong. And whereas in itself that’s far from unusual, what differentiated this particular incident is that I hadn’t yet said anything...
Getting older isn’t for sissies. And while it certainly beats the alternative, my brief hospital visit this week left me wondering by how much. Where the...
Every family has one. And as unique as you might think they are, they hardly differ from each other. Each has at least one participant who...
For the most part, I find death threats absurd. Even humorous. I’ve been photoshopped into gas chambers; “invited” to meet in dark alleys in Cape Town;...
This week marks three years since the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. And while I’m hardly a monarchist, I’ve always been fascinated by the peculiar traditions...
To live as a Jew has never been simple. For generations, external forces have tried their utmost to destroy us. They have waged wars, forced conversions,...
The Jewish year offers something for everyone. Matza lovers rejoice come Pesach, wannabe vegetarians come into their own over the “Nine Milk Days”, while Jewish handymen...
Not once was her glass of chilled white wine at risk. Which, frankly, was the most – and perhaps only – impressive part of the entire...
As someone who has been cancelled more often than a Sunday Times subscription, you might assume that I’d be waving the flag for anonymous submissions. As...
Six years ago, South Africa was gifted a national treasure: a shaky cellphone video of Marelize Horn trying to ride a bicycle on an otherwise empty...
It was the badger that sent me down a rabbit hole. Why a Woolworths strawberry yoghurt bar would proudly proclaim that it was “badger friendly” was...
In July of 1979, I took out a Beatrix Potter book from the Yeoville Library in Johannesburg. I was 10 years old, had just discovered the...
I apologise for stating the obvious, but I’ll say it anyway: it’s okay to be happy. In fact, I’ll go one step further; being miserable doesn’t...
This isn’t a cry for help. Rather, it’s recognition that abuse can creep up on even the most vigilant of us. Perhaps it’s because no-one thinks...
It was fun while it lasted. Bob Vylan, once a punk-rap provocateur, now appears to be slowly descending from the revolutionary heights of chanting, “Death to...
If there’s one thing the Jewish world has perfected over centuries besides anxiety and survival, it’s kibbitzing. And during the recent 12-Day War between Israel and...
In the spirit of the biblical Israelites, a small band of well-intentioned, khaki-clad South Africans and assorted internationals recently embarked on a symbolic walk to Gaza....
Greta Thunberg, global climate scolder and part-time geopolitical commentator, has apparently survived the ordeal of all ordeals: a kidnapping. Not your usual kidnapping, mind you. There...
Of all the forms of incompetence available on the great political buffet, none are quite as exotic, as flamboyantly served, and as proudly devoured as unconscious...
