Changing Everything

(Hat tip: Chana UPDATED: Chana's post, and R' Gil's, both excellent; R' Gil quotes R' Dr. Norman Lamm's letter on the subject which was also very sharp. Was in training most of the day, and only quickly put up what I saw from my e-mail.)

Wow, this is something:

Snap, Crackle, But Not Cropped

Feldman admits controversial photo was not altered by school, which acknowledges it axed his lifecycle notices. Jonathan Mark - Associate Editor

Noah Feldman, who ignited a firestorm of criticism last week with his pointed attack on Modern Orthodoxy in The New York Times Magazine, admitted this week that he learned before publication of his article that he in fact was not intentionally cropped out of his reunion photograph.

In the article, “Orthodox Paradox,” Feldman, a Harvard Law School professor, asserts that he was erased from a newsletter’s photograph by his former yeshiva, the Maimonides School in Brookline, Mass., because he was standing alongside his non-Jewish girlfriend. The reunion anecdote led off the story in a dramatic way and the image of Feldman and his wife allegedly being stricken from the photo appeared central to his feelings of being left out.

That pretty much kills the article, however much else was true. Shame on Noah Feldman, and shame on the Times for allowing that part of the article to remain while they did not allow a photo after understanding why he wasn't included.

Feldman has a few interesting comments that really make sense but contradict what he implied in his original article, but I'll have to get to those later - currently attending all-day training.