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Technology is not the Problem
Guard Your Tongue author, Rabbi Y. M. KaganThere is an interesting story about a young Avreich studying in Israel during the 1950s. He was newly married and wanted to have a phone installed in his...
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The President, the Polls, and 2020
The President at a rally Wednesday (CBS)I hate to keep talking about the President. But it’s been another slow news day and I thought I would offer my impressions about 2020.For those who think Donald...
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The Right Stuff, the Wrong Stuff, and No Stuff at All
The story of Michelle (Lifelines/Mishpacha)Scenario one: Imagine you are in 7th grade and you had asked a question that your Rebbe thought was inappropriate. Your rebbe becomes so enraged at that...
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Being Gay is Not a Sin
Love your fellow man as you would yourself (Forward)I have been saying from the very beginning that being gay is not a sin. Without being graphic, it is only a certain type of behavior associated with...
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The Judeo-Christian Tradition that is America
Our national mottoRabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein has written a beautiful description of what I believe are the foundational principles of the United States. Which of late is referred to as the...
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Who Will Speak for the Children?
Meeting in Boro Park about NYSED's new guidelines (Hamodia)It is being reported in Hamodia that the latest development in the ongoing struggle to provide our youth with a quality education - that NYSED...
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Jews in the News
Anne Neuberger, head of NSA Cybersecurity Directorate (Jewish Press)There is some good news to share about our people in this country. For a change.First I want to offer my congratulations to Anne...
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The Conscience of a Centrist
Rabbi Yisroel Motzen asks (and answers) a very interesting question in Cross Currents. Is Judaism apolitical? His answer is that it is not, nor should it be. The question then becomes in want way is it...
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Avoiding Chilul HaShem
Chortkover Rebbe, R' Yisroel FriedmanThere is no better validation about observations I’ve made about members of a community than hearing the same observation being made from a card carrying member of...
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Is the President a Racist?
Congressman Elijah Cummings (congress.gov)President Trump recently said about one of his opponents that he has a low IQ. Does that make him a racist if he said it about a person of color? I’m pretty...
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Is Orthodoxy in a Rotten State?
Nothing rotten about the Chicago Chesed Fund - founded by R' Shmuel FuerstI have to disagree with Shoshanna Keats-Jaskoll – even while I agree with her. That may sound contradictory. But let me...
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Saving Souls
Making kiddush at a shabbos tableSaving Souls. I hate that term. Trying to get fellow non observant Jews to become observant is often expressed as ‘saving their soul’. I understand why that term is...
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The Sexual Revolution and its Impact on Orthodoxy
Sex. Now there is a word that usually gets most people’s attention. It is a big subject that would require volumes to even begin to tackle. But Gil Student’s ‘Daily Reyd’ today has linked two articles...
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What is the Real Goal of Jewish Education?
One of the most tragic figures in Jewish history is the Elisha Ben Avuya. Tragic because he is perhaps the prototype for someone who knew Torah so well that he is quoted as an authority in the Mishnah,...
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The Real Reasons for Mass Murders
Is this what the American future looks like? (New Yorker)2 mass murders. Both within hours of each other. One in El Paso, Texas– 20 fatalities. The other in Dayton, Ohio– 9 fatalities. I wish I could...
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The City of Torah Gone Awry
R' Aharon Kotler, founder of BMGUpdated. (See below*)Every time I hear a story like this, it shakes my faith in those who are supposedly the cream of the Torah world. I say this while still believing...
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A Skewed Sense of Right and Wrong
Deputy Health Minister, Rabbi Yaakov Litzman (Ynet)I almost feel sorry for him. Despite my Hashkafic differences with him, I had always believed that Israeli MK and Deputy Health Minister Rabbi...
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Observant Jewry and Home Schooling
Children being home schooled (JTA)It’s a bad idea. Although there might be a place for it in certain exceptional cases where there are no religious schools (for example in the case of Chabad Sheluchim)...
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Cultural vs Religious Values - and Do they Hate Us or Love Us?
Long time editor of Tradition Magazine, Rabbi Emanuel Feldman (Mishpacha)I often talk about the high assimilation rate in America as the cause for the demise of heterodoxy. An assimilation rate that...
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Changing the Rabbinic Mindset about Suspected Abusers
Deputy Health Minister, Ya'akov Litzman and fellow Charedi politicians (TOI)Can sexual abuse ever be eradicated? I doubt it. Sociopaths have always exited and will continue to exist. People with...
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