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Waning Clout? Waning Rabbinic Influence? I Don’t Think So
Observant Jew and former US Senator Joe Lieberman. Is our influence waning?Frequent contributor to Cross Currents, Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer has written a thought provoking article there that challenges...
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Sukkos in Israel
BaSukkos Teishvu Shivas Yomim - You should dwell in a Sukkah seven days. This Pasuk inVayikra (23:42) sums up what we are about to do for the next seven days. I’m glad that I’m here in Israel to do...
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Do You Know Where Your Children Are?
I really generally like to keep things light on Erev Yom Tov. But I just received the following note from Rabbi Yakov Horowitz: Could you please post this with a note asking parents to speak to their...
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Is Divorce the Only Option?
Rabbi Gil Steinlauf and his wife Rabbi Batya Steinlauf (Times of Israel)There has been a lot written about a letter made public by Conservative Rabbi Gil Steinlauf. Most of it has been very supportive...
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A Tikun Olam of High Caliber
Rabbi Elimelech Goldstein and some of his Kids Kicking Cancer studentsThere are some Orthodox Jews that balk at the term Tikun Olam. As if to say that this concept is not a Torah concept. They will...
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The Giving Pledge and the Tuition Crisis
Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz pledges a million dollars to Mir Avreichim (Matzav)There are a lot of billionaires in the world. Some of them are Jewish. And it seems that Orthodox Jewry may have a few of those...
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Shmini Atzeres and Simchas Torah
My visit to the holy land is coming to a close. In three days I will be boarding a plane back to Chicago (at about 1:00 AM local time on Sunday (Motzoi Shabbos). Not looking forward to that for many...
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Another Bright Light Dims
Rabbi Barry FreundelIt seems to never end. Once again we have a case where a respected rabbi has been arrested and charged with a sex crime. This time it’s voyeurism. What a sight it must have been to...
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Clarifying My Views
Picture of me taken at the Kotel a few years agoFirst let me say that Barry Freundel is a bad man. I could not agree more with those people who criticized my post yesterday on the subject. They were...
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Final Thoughts
Barry FreundelWhen a prominent figure so recognizably Modern Orthodox and so highly respected by even the secular world - is found out to be a devious person whose prurient interests supersede any...
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The Day Yoeli Deutch Died
Joey Diangello (formerly Yoeli Deutch)Maybe it wasn’t suicide. On the other hand maybe it was. Yoeli Deutch – age 34 - died Monday via an overdose of drugs. That was how his death was listed. Did he...
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Women in the Israeli Defense Forces
Tamar Ariel, OBM (family photo via Ha'aretz)Yehoreg V’Al Ya’avor. One must die and not violate. That is the Halacha about 3 particular Miztvos that are deemed so important, that one must give up their...
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Taking Charity for a Living
Students at Beth Medrash Gavoha better known as Lakewood (NYT)On my fight back from Israel to Chicago I was surprised to see a feature article in the international edition of the New York Times. It was...
View ArticleJudging Your Brother Favorably
The original post here has been deleted. In my zeal to defend a fellow Jew, I ended up judging another Jew too harshly. I now regret that. For that I apologized. Rabbi Oppenheimer has accepted it. I...
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The Fight Over Charedi Leadership in Israel
Rav Aharon Leib ShteinmanOne of the saddest developments in the Charedi world in Israel is the current split in their ranks. It seems that the animosity between these 2 very Charedi factions is even...
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Jerusalem, the Eternal Capital of Israel
Rabbi Ari Zivotofsky and his son, Menachem BinyaminShould the United States recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel? Yes, I think it should. Does it matter to me if they do? As an Orthodox Jew, I...
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Fighting Eating Disorders in Yerushalyim
by Rabbi Shmuel JablonEating Disorders- A Deadly DiseaseIn recent years, the Orthodox community has awoken to the need to battle eating disorders. Eating disorders, primarily anorexia and bulimia,...
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Proud to be a Jew and an American
19 F-35s being sold to Israel - the first country outside of the US to fly themPride. That’s what I feel when I read a story in the JerusalemPost (republished at VIN) like this: Israel’s military is...
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When Sexual Harassment Becomes the Norm
Stephanie DoucetteThere has been so much written about the Freundel ‘Peeping Tom’ scandal that some might feel they are on ‘information overload’. I wouldn’t blame them. This is actually my 4th piece...
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Why I Disagree
Mayyim Hayyim Community Mikva (Forward) shown for illustrative purposes onlyIt is a principled resignation. But it is one with which I disagree. Rabbi Steven Pruzansky has resigned from the Bet Din...
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