Having Your Cake…
Last week I was sent a link to a website that for all intents and purposes was an Agudath Israel of America website. It is called ‘The Lefkowitz Leadership Initiative’. It even identified itself as a...
View ArticleA Night of Heterodoxy on Shavuos?
Rabbi David Stav, head of Tzohar*Update - Rabbi Stav has apparently denied the report (published in both Arutz Sheva and Ha'aretz) upon which this post is based. If that's true, I apologize for...
View ArticleCalling Out Absurd Notions of Frumkeit
Photo of new cabinet as it appears in the Hebrew B'Chadrei CharedimChava, Sarah, Rivkah, Leah, Rachel, Tamar, Yocheved, Miriam, Devorah, Ruth, Naomi, Batsheva, all have something in common. They are...
View ArticleSuperficiality or Ehrlichkeit?
This evening begins a 3 day Yom Tov. We start with Shabbos and immediately veer into Shavuos on Motzei Shabbos. Shavuos is when we celebrate Matan Torah. The day that God gave the Jewish people His...
View ArticleWhat Did They Think They Would Accomplish?
A beachfront protest of Chilul Shabbos by Lakewood rabbisI have to wonder about the wisdom of this ‘protest’. A ‘protest’ is how an event that took place last Shabbos was characterized. This protest...
View ArticleThe New Rabbi Riskin
Rabbi Shlomo Riskn, current Chief Rabbi of EfratHow sad it is for me to see the demise of a great rabbi. But that is the only way I can see what is happening now to Rabbi Shlomo Riskin. He has...
View ArticleDating, Marriage, Divorce, and the Agunah
Scene from the movie, Gett (Jew in the City)It seems that Israeli Chief Rabbinate is hated (or at the very least, considered irrelevant) by virtually every segment of Jewry in Israel. Secular Jews...
View ArticleAnother Modesty Chumra Hits the Fan
Female Chasidim of Belz in England have been forbidden to drive (IBT)“Next thing you know, they’ll be telling us we have to cover our faces in public!” According to an e-mail from a member of an online...
View ArticleCreepy Behavior? Or Sexual Predation?
Jonathan Rosenblatt. - a respected rabbi. Note dignitaries in the backgroundIt appears that the power of the sex drive is so strong that it can overwhelm all manner of restraint and common sense in...
View ArticleA Ted Talk - No Voice, No Vote
Esty ShushanThe following is a partial transcript from a 60 Minutes segment (originally broadcast on April 29th) on the subject of Ted: It has become a place where big ideas find a global audience. It...
View ArticleCan a Grass Roots Campaign Change their World?
Charedi College - class of menEarlier this year, Machon Lev produced a humorous ad (below). Machon Lev (also known as the Jerusalem College of Technology) had started a successful program geared for...
View ArticleCan Achdus Exist Without Tragedy?
Bat-Galim Shaer, Iris Yifrach and Racheli Fraenkel with Mayor Nir Birkat (TOI)One year ago today, I6 Sivan 5774 on the Hebrew Calendar, Eyal Yifrach, Naftali Fraenkel, and Gilad Shaar, HY’D were...
View ArticleDo Charedi Leaders Really Oppose Extremists?
Israeli Keneset member, Rabbi Yisrael EichlerI find myself agreeing with IRAC, an organization I would otherwise eschew. And disagreeing with an Orthodox Keneset member with whom I might otherwise...
View ArticleRabbis - Don't Get Naked with Your Congregants!
Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt (NYT)Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt – spiritual leader of the Riverdale Jewish Center in the Bronx has responded to the New York Timesarticle about his inappropriate behavior. He...
View ArticleWhen Leaders Fail
Illustration from Jewish Action MagazineHuman beings are flawed. That - in part - seems to be the message in Rabbi Yitzchok Breitowitz’s lengthy essay in the most recent edition of Jewish Action...
View ArticleSocietal Values and Their Impact on Orthodoxy
Caitlyn Jenner - now and beforeUnbelievable. Yitzchak Francus’s opinion piece is breathtaking in its naiveté. So much so that I am shocked that a respected Jewish newspaper like the Forward even...
View ArticleA Charedi Masters Degree Program in Israel
Chasidic Torah Sages (YWN)Hopeless. That’s how I feel sometimes about the prospect of any change in the way Charedim in Israel educate their people. That’s because whenever there is the slightest...
View ArticleTwo Rabbis - Different Reactions
Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt (TOI)I have to wonder about the diametrically opposite reactions by 2 Shuls to the sexual misconduct of its rabbis. It appears that Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt Shul board is...
View ArticleOn the Ordination of Women in Orthodoxy
Rahel Berkovits & Meesh Hammer-Kossoy on the eve of their ordination (TOI)I desperately want to retain these misguided Jews under the umbrella of Orthodoxy. They are sincere and highly motivated....
View ArticleThe Judaism of Our Forefathers
President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin I know this may be a very unpopular opinion. But I support Israeli President Reuven Rivlin’s approach to the religious character of the State. Or more specifically...
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