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When Heroes Defraud
Goldstein/Adler coded text message. Click to enlarge (JTA)Hero or villain. Perhaps both? I am at a loss to explain why a man who would risk life and limb to save lives would think it OK to defraud the...
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Fearing Religious Freedom
Supreme Court Building (JNS)In what is yet another brilliant essay by Jonathan Tobin, his defense of the Supreme Court’s recent decisions on religious rights is in my view irrefutable. Not for the lack...
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The Perfect Ought Not Be the Enemy of the Good. But Still…
Victim of Campus antisemtism, Cassandra Blotner (merit pages)Back to back home runs! How about that? Just as in yesterday’s post, in today’s post - Jonathan Tobin has again hit it out of the park.First...
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Modern Orthodoxy and Chabad
Chabad doing their thing (Jewish Press)I read with dismay Avi Ciment’s article in the Jewish Press. Not that I fully disagree with him. For the most part I do. My dismay is precisely because of that....
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MAGA Republicans
Trump addressing the rally turned insurrection on January 6, 2021First the disclaimer. In no way do I believe that Donald Trump should ever be President of the United States again. His post election...
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When Disagreement Turns into Hate
Respectful disputant: R' Aharon Feldman (Agudah)Azoi Vie’s Chrisilt’s Zich, Yiddilt’s Zich. This popular Yiddish expression loosely translates as follows: Just as the Christian world in which we live...
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YU, LGBTQ, and SCOTUS
What may prove to be one of the most important decisions of the now conservative Supreme Court is how it will rule on a religious rights issue brought before it by Yeshiva University. The National...
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Uniting the Right - In Israel
Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich (Ynet)There’s a lot of hatred out there for former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Which has only increased in recent years. It parallels the hatred of...
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Will Modern Orthodoxy and Centrism Eventually Become Irrelevant?
I am a dinosaur. Not a willing one. But a dinosaur no less. The sad reality of Orthodox Judaism is that the move to the right is a like speeding freight train. One better get on board quickly or get...
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Descending Rapidly into Unprecedented Tznius Extremes
Mitzvah Tanz (For illustration purposes only)I am not a fan of what is called ‘The Mitzvah Tanz’. it unnecessarily prolongs the wedding into an endless series of ‘dances’ in front of the Kallah by...
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Agudah's Advocacy - Pros and Cons
Most people that read this blog, know my ambivalence about Agudah. On the one hand, as an advocacy group and service agency, there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that they are a marvelous asset...
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Moving the Country Backward
President Biden bashing MAGA Republicans last week (CBS)I am not a fan of the current President. Although I do believe that he is a decent human being that cares deeply for the underdog, his policies...
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Turning a Kiddush HaShem into a Chilul HaShem
Julio Castro and his YULA students (Jewish Journal)I do not recall ever having such a bad reaction to a bad reaction before. But after clicking on a link to an article by Rabbi Mordechai Berg on Rabbi...
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Is the OK - OK?
Banner from the OK websiteIt feels like déjà vu all over again.* About 16 years ago a Charedi Bucher in Monsey, New York sold Treif (non Kosher) chickens to his strictly observant patrons – repackaging...
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Converting to Judaism for All the Wrong Reasons
Conservative cantor, Avital Gerstetter (JTA)A little known view of R’ Shamshon Raphael Hirsch is his explanation of our purpose in Galus – the Diaspora.. Which is to increase conversions of non Jews to...
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Broad Brush Strokes
NY state assemblyman, Simcha Eichenstein I received a distressing notification about an upcoming New York Times editorial from Aguiah yesterday. I was distressed – not so much by the editorial, but...
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Same Sex Marriage, an LGBTQ Club, and YU.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor (Wikipedia)Is the pendulum swinging back? I am beginning to believe it might just be. Not that long ago, a Supreme Court consisting of a majority liberal justices...
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Defending the Indefensible in the Name of Religion
Samples of the poor English language skills of their young students (NYT)The blowback was unexpected. Not that I didn’t think there wouldn’t be any reaction to the New York Times investigative report...
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Whataboutism
Image from Religious News ServiceI have to be honest. It hurts to be perceived by people I deeply respect in the religious community to be considered on the wrong side of an issue as important as...
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Do the New Education Rules Really Contradict Our Values?
Satmar Yeshiva (Wikipedia)I truly do not understand the recent open letter from the Agudah Moetzes and Torah U’Mesorah. Which reads in its entirety as follows:We write on behalf of the yeshiva...
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