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Thank You
I want to briefly take this opportunity to thank all those who have answered and continue to answer my recent call for voluntary financial support of this blog. You have humbled me. It’s nice to know...
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Close - But No Cigar
Maimonides Memorial - Cordova, SpainRabbi Daniel Gordis never fails to surprise me. He has responded to critics of his last article (Requiem for a Movement) in which he spoke about the imminent...
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The Lines Have Been Redrawn
Speaking strictly as an Orthodox Jew – I have come to believe that we are increasingly becoming a divided nation religiously. But not in ways that I would have ever dreamed. So divided are we that it...
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A Working Husband? God Forbid!
The 'learner' - cookie cutter products of Jewish educationWhat are young Orthodox Jewish women looking for in a husband? What are they taught to look for? There is no single answer to these questions....
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The Paranoid Editor of the Yated
Yated Editor, Rabbi Pinchos LipshutzI recall reading not long ago that Judaism is the most admired religion in America. It came as a bit of a surprise to me that the religion of less than 2% of the...
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Is the Draft and Secular Education Really Anti Charedi?
There is a concept in Judaism that tells us that each generation is weaker than the last. What that means is that previous generations were much wiser about Judaism since they were closer to the...
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Religious - and in Prison
I am often accused of focusing on the negative rather than the positive about the vast majority of observant Jewry. There are in fact a lot of good things the Torah world does. Much of it a Kiddush...
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Correcting a Mistake
Rabbi Avi Weiss - photo credit: The ForwardIt’s the right move. While I am very critical of Rabbi Avi Weiss about his departure from his Rebbi, Rav Soloveitchik and flirting with the outer edges of...
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The ‘King’ of Israel
Ariel Sharon and Rav Ahron SoloveichikI know that a lot of people will strongly disagree with me about some of what I am about to say. But as a believer in Emes as I understand it, I feel obligated to...
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Communal Responsibility and the Right Enjoy Our Wealth
There is a very thought provoking article in the Jewish Press by Rabbi Jeremy Rosen about the current excesses at Jewish weddings. He also segues into many of the subjects I frequently discuss here....
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The Gap
Rabbi Yitzchok AdlersteinOnce again, I am impressed by the level headed approach taken by a moderate Charedi, Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, to problems facing the Torah world in Israel. An approach that...
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Stuck in the Middle
Guest Post by Michael WeinerR' Aharon Lichtenstein, arguably the spiritual head of Centrist OrthodoxyMichael Weiner is 15 years old. He is currently in tenth grade. But his wisdom and insight exceed...
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Insularity or Engagement?
Typical street scene in Bnei BrakMany of my critics ask me why I don’t focus on the problems in the Modern Orthodox community. In particular the charge is made about my posts dealing with Off the...
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Hashkafic Differences and Jewish Survival
Rabbi Yehoshua Weber - Photo Credit: Jeremy Melnick I am impressed by Rabbi Yehoshua Weber. I never met the man, but I did read a column by him in Mishpacha Magazine (Yes, I know I’ve referenced...
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Women, Tefillin, and Burkas
Apparently there are now some Modern Orthodox schools that are permitting their female students to lay (put on) Tefilin during Shacharis. First it was the Salanter Akiba Riverdale (SAR) and now...
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Disagreement Does Not Mean Rejection
Rabbi Dov Linzer, Rosh HaYeshiva of YCTI have written many times about my problems with the Hashkafos of Rabbi Avi Weiss,his Yeshiva Yeshivat Choevei Torah (YCT) and its philosophy of Open Orthodoxy....
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The Freedom in the Middle
Guest Post by Celeste MarcusThe Lonely Man of FaithCeleste Marcus is a senior at Kohelet Yeshiva High School in Lower Merion, PA – the same school that Michael Weiner attends. The following is a...
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Understanding Their Pain
Rabbi Dr. Jerry LobThere were new revelations recently about the scourge of sex abuse in the Catholic Church in Chicago. From a segment of the PBS Newshour broadcast on January 21st. The Catholic...
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A Bad Attitude
A Mehudar EsrogOne of the biggest flaws in the thinking of the Charedi world was demonstrated in letter published in Hamodia. It was noted by Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein in a post on Cross Currents...
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What Is It Really Like for a Baal Teshuva?
So… how’s it working out for you now that you have become observant? This is a question to Baalei Teshuva (BTs) that I think may very well be ignored – or at least not as deeply explored as it should...
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