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Where's the Beef?
YCT Talmud Chair, Rabbi Ysoscher Katz“Kedusha is fragile, the smallest breach will eventually cause havoc to the community's spiritual wellbeing.”Words like these illustrate why there is such an...
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Because You’re Our Daughter
Dr. Harold GoldmeierI know this man. Dr. Harold Goldmeier is someone I knew from Chicago. I consider him a friend and I think he would say the same about me. Dr. Goldmeier is retired and along with his...
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Do Titles Really Mean That Much?
Graduates of Yeshivat MaharatAlthough we are coming from polar opposite positions with respect to the ordination of women - in an odd sort of way, I agree with Rachel Rosenthal. She proposes in a...
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Open Orthodoxy’s Utter Rejection of Tradition
Open Orthodox Rabbi Yosef KanefskyMany people think that a woman serving as a rabbi in Orthodoxy is a relatively recent idea. But the fact is that it is not new. Over 45 years ago when I was in the...
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Restoring Our Image as a Light unto Nations
Holocaust Historian, Dr. Rafael MedoffHow disappointing it is to me that there has to be a declaration made about Jewish ethics in Jewish leadership. This should be self understood in Judaism. We...
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Is Getting Married Younger the Answer?
2014 Mishpacha Magazine cover story illustrates the angstI was sent a recent article from a Charedi magazine (not the one on the left) that discussed their community’s solution to the so-called...
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Marriages Based on Myth
by Guest ContributorOnce again I received some words of wisdom form a Charedi mental health professional. I know his identity but I honor his wish to remain anonymous.I asked for and got permission to...
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New York Liberals
Republican candidate for President, Senator Ted Cruz (Reuters)New York liberals. That is sometimes used as a pejorative euphemism for Jews by the political right wing. And in my view it is a thinly...
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Is Open Orthodoxy More Tolerated in Israel?
Rav Chaim KanievskyThe public discourse over Open Orthodoxy has driven home a very important point to me. The gap between Israeli and American Charedim is pretty wide. One may dispute that. But I...
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The Settlers of Chevron
Police in Chevron buildings (Jewish Press - screenshot)The Jewish Press has been a home for my blog for some time now. I am grateful to them for publishing so many of my posts on their website. I have...
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Substituting the Word ‘Goy’ for Nazi
Chasidim of Stamford Hill (Independant)UpdateAs noted by an astute reader, this post is based on an article dated September 2015. I had actually written a post on it then - similar to the one I wrote...
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The Galus Mentality
Jewish children at play in Chevron (Jewish Press)The Jewish Press has honored me with a rebuttal. I should first thank them for publishing a highly critical essay about their strong support for the...
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Spotlight on Sex Abuse
Guila BenchimolWe were living in the dark ages. This was an astonishing admission I heard not long ago from a prominent Charedi Posek. He now believes we should report suspicions of sex abuse directly...
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The Frumkeit Plague of Lakewood
Shlomo Yehuda Rehcnitz speaking at a Lakewood event (YWN)Being right on this issue doesn’t give me any pleasure. But the consequences have now passed the threshold of being barely noticeable to the...
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Do Ten Percent of Charedim in Israel Go OTD?
United Torah Judaism MK Eliezer MosesAccording to a government statistic cited in this news website (Hebrew) one out of ten Charedim in Israel drop out of observance. If true - that is an astonishing...
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Taken to the Woodshed
Shlomo Yehuda RechnitzA few days ago, the Orthodox Jewish websites were abuzz with what some might have called groundbreaking news. I was one of those who expressed effusive praise of a hard hitting...
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Happy Campers?
Chasidim siting at the Rebbe's Tisch (table), - a joyous Chasidic customThe lack of a decent secular education among many of my coreligionists is one of the most troubling issues facing Orthodoxy...
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Centrism - What it Means and Doesn’t Mean
Daniel B. SchwartzDaniel B. Schwartz is an Orthodox Jew and an attorney from Monsey, New York, who like me, calls himself a Centrist. This is how we both define our religious ideals. He has however...
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Respect - Not Elitism
Lakewood Rosh HaYeshiva, Rav Malkiel KotlerI had a discussion earlier this week with a prominent Charedi Talmid Chacham. We were debating the merits of the kind of religious education that takes place...
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A Peaceful if not Ideal Resolution at the Wall
A man and a woman praying together at the Kotel in 1936 (Getty Images)There has been a lot of talk about a decision made by the Israeli government approving a section of the Kotel for ‘mixed gender’...
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