The ‘Gold’ Standard, Eytan Kobre, and Me
Eytan KobreNo, I don’t have a split personality. Nonetheless one might be tempted to think that by reading this post after reading Rabbi Shalom Gold’s open letter last Thursday.First let me say that I...
View ArticleMbP and Herpes - Alive and Well
Circumcision - tools of the trade (JTA)Jewish newborns are still at risk for an entirely preventable health problem in the form of MbP (Metzitza B’Peh or Metzitza b’Feh if you prefer the more...
View ArticleA Tale of Two Issues
Agudah Spokesman, Rabbi Avi ShafranI find it quite amusing (and unfair) when Agudah spokesman Rabbi Avi Shafran is constantly bashed for simply expressing his opinion. There is almost a sense of glee...
View ArticleWithdrawn Post and an Apology
My conscience has been bothering me all day about today's post. I have therefore deleted it. No matter how justified I may have felt in writing it, I should not have done so. It wasn't appropriate. It...
View ArticleDrawing the Wrong Conclusions
Yeshiva University class of 2012I was pointed in the direction of a Pew Research study that concluded the following: If you are Jewish - the more educated you are the less religious you are.This may...
View ArticleBetter to Die than Serve
Yehoreg V'Al Ya'avor - better to die than serve in the IDF? (Arutz Sheva)Why is there so much prejudice against Charedim in Israel? I for one do not believe it is warranted. At least not in most...
View ArticleThe First 100 Days
The President of the United StatesNow that the President has reached the vaunted 100 day mark, I thought it might be worthwhile to take a look back at what happened, and what is happening, and what...
View ArticleOrthodox Jews – the New Jewish Elite
Recent White House meeting attended by AgudahI have to admit that there is one positive thing about Donald Trump that is undeniable: His relationship with the Orthodox Jewish community. To put it...
View ArticleIsrael, Charedim, and the Left
Rav Shlomo Zalman AuerbachMy daughter sent me an excerpt from Oro Shel Olam, a new book by Rabbi Yisroel Meir Lau. The short version is as follows. A student in Kol Torah had asked his Rosh Yeshiva,...
View ArticleTravel Day
My grandson Mordechai will be celebrating his Bar Mitzvah in Israel next week. My wife and I are on our way there to join him in celebration. We will be in Ramat Bet Shemesh for the next 2 weeks. I...
View ArticleNot the Kind of Achdus I’m Looking For
When it's the passengers that aren't so friendlyThere is was in all its magnificent ‘glory’. The Jewish people at their worst. Although I’m sure they thought it was their best – as religious Jews. All...
View ArticleThe Orthodox Divide - Not What Appears to Be
Partnership Minyan (JTA)One of the sad realities that contributes to the divide between Modern Orthodoxy (MO)and the right is how Modern Orthodoxy is defined by the right (Charedim). It is usually...
View ArticleFreedom of Speech Restored
President Trump greeting clergy members in the Rose Garden on May 4th (JTA) I never liked the Johnson Amendment. Which restricts the rights of religious organizations to express their preference of one...
View ArticlePeace Not Possible Til They're Gone!
Hamas Leadership (Ha'aretz)The bias from the left is quite telling when one of their journalists puts a positive spin on a Hamas document that declares its intention to destroy Israel. But this is...
View ArticleShould Religious Liberty Scare us? Hardly!
Pope Francis and Rabbi Edgar Gluck (YWN)There are some media elites that have panned Trump’s ‘religious liberty’ executive order. In short that order has endorsed the idea that freedom of religions...
View ArticleZvia Gordetsky - Another Sad Agunah Story
Zvia Gordetsky - an Agunah who has begun a hunger strikeI cannot understand it at all. It is one of the more perplexing aspects of Halacha. An Israeli woman by the name of Zvia Gordetsky has been...
View ArticleConfirming What We Already Know
Charedim in the classroom (Jerusalem Post)One might think that Jerusalem Post reporter, Jeremy Sharon might have upset the Charedi world by his recent article. I know I would be if he were talking...
View ArticleA Day of Prayer and 7 Apps
A 2014 prayer rally in Israel called by Charedi leaders to protest the draft (VIN)You would think that by now, the rabbinic authorities of the Charedi world in Israel would understand that it isn’t the...
View ArticleIt Gets No Better than This. But It’s Not So Bad Now!
Picture in an Ad for Pesach in Croatia 2017I have no real problem with fancy Pesach vacations. They are not for me, however. For me Pesach is a time to spend with family and to have a traditional Seder...
View ArticleBack to Chicago
Ramat Bet ShemeshToday is another travel day. Just wanted to say what a wonderful trip it was. My grnadosn Mordechai read his Parsha and the Haftora at a private family Minyan last Shabbos. After...
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