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The Wedding on the Temple Mount
Image from the Jewish PressI like the Jewish Press. I wish other Orthodox weekly publications were more like them. They are by far the most inclusive Orthodox weekly periodical. A wide variety of...
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When Being Honest is Newsworthy
Joseph Waldman calling the bank about the money given to him in error (YWN)How sad it is that when an Orthodox Jew from Kiryas Joel is honest, it make the news. YWN reported a story about a Chasidic...
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Being Different
Chasidic activist Ezra Freidlander (left) and Governor John Kasich (JTA)When I say we are in the silly season, I’m not kidding. Yesterday I saw a couple of videos of Ohio Governor John Kasich touring...
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Rape is Rape!
University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor (NPR)I was recently asked by a woman I respect (even though we disagree on a few things) to comment on an essay Rabbi Steven Pruzansky wrote on his own...
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And Away We Go!
I’m off to the holy land. My wife and I will be in Ramat Bet Shemesh for Pesach with my son and his family. This will be my first Pesach in Israel (...my wife was there once before we were married) and...
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When an Accused Sex Abuser is Innocent
Alan Dershwoitz (Breitbart)This is one of those times when blaming the ‘victim’ was justified. Famed attorney and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz was accused of sexual assault last year by a...
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A Professional Perspecive on Rape
Guest contribution by Dr. Yehoshua H. Breyer*2010 study: One in four domestic violence cases are men (Daily Mail)A few days ago I wrote about the sensitive subject of rape on campus and Rabbi...
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When Fellow Jews are Hurt Because of my Principles
Rabba Sara Hurwitz - first woman to be ordained by an Orthodox rabbiOne of the most troubling things about the currents in Modern Orthodoxy today is the fact that some very sincere and honorable women...
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Happy Pesach
It’s Erev Pesach. I want to take his opportunity to wish everyone a happy and Kosher Pesach. I have been quite involved with my family here and enjoying every minute of it. As in the past I am linking...
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UpdatedBaruch Dayan HaEmes. My brother Barry Maryles passed away on the 1st day of Pesach in Chicago. Assuming the Meis (body) arrives at Ben Gurion Airport on schedule the funeral will take place...
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Golden Hands
Barry and Brenda around the time of their engagement‘Goldene Hendt’. That is what my father always used to say about my brother Barry. Er Hut Goldene Hendt. Which means his hands were golden in the...
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The Trump Phenomenon - Defying Conventional Wisdom
It's Trump versus Clinton (image from BBC)This is not an endorsement. Just reality as I see it. Not a reality show... but reality. First let me say that as it stands now I endorse Hillary Clinton for...
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What is Modern Orthodoxy?
Rabbi Dr. Yitz (Irving) GreenbergThis is one of those instances where I have to say, ‘You’re both right’. But not entirely. I’m talking about a recent article by Rabbi Yitz Greenberg in the Jewish...
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When Reality Hits You in the Face
ZAKA founder, Yehuda Meshi Zahav (VIN)I have always thought that Charedim should be subject to the draft in Israel in exactly the same way all other Jews in Israel are. I have written extensively on...
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A Cheif Rabbi's Step in the Right Direction
Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef (Arutz Sheva)Recognizing the largely secular founders of the modern state of Israel, he pointed out "what was here 80 years ago. They (the pioneers of the modern...
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Fraud? Sex Abuse? Or Neither?
Image from surveillance video (JTA)I watched the video twice. It was quite disturbing to see a Chasidic looking guy kissing a young child several times while holding him on his lap with his legs moving...
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Bringing Kiryas Joel into the 21st Century
R' Aaron Teitelbaum, Satmar Rebbe of Kiryas Joel (NY Post)I don’t know the details. But here is how Josh Nathan-Kazis describes it in a Forward article: The bill, introduced by Assemblywoman Ellen...
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The Launch of PORAT
Guest Contribution by Commentator*PORAT panelist, Blu Greenberg, co-founder and 1st President of JOFAThe following report was written by a prominent educator who attended the launch of a new...
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Centrism – Where Do We Go from Here?
RIETS Beis HaMedrash - Yeshiva University's Hashkafa must be strengthenedThere is not a doubt in my mind that Modern Orthodoxy is under siege. Not a physical siege or even an intentional psychological...
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The Modernization of Chabad
The late Lubavitcher Rebbe as a young manOne of my pet peeves is how the right wing uses the word ‘modern’ when applied to religious Jews. What they mean by that is ‘less observant’. Which is a...
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