Toldos – Confining Minds
A word often translated as “hunting” is used by the Torah to characterize Esav — “a man who knows hunting” (Beraishis 25:27). Likewise, earlier, to describe Nimrod — “a powerful hunter” (10:9). Rashi explains...
Parshas Chayei Sara – What to Tell the Shadchan
When parents of young people seek proper husbands or wives for their sons or daughters (or when the young people do the seeking themselves), one or more of a number of factors are usually...
Parshas Vayeira – The Will IS the Way
Inordinate attention is afforded the menu that Avraham Avinu offered the angels disguised as nomads whom he welcomed to his home: Water, fine-flour bread, cream and milk; and, according to the Gemara, the tongues...
Lech Lecha – The Meaning of Magein
“I am a shield for you,” is the common translation of what Hashem told Avram after the war of the kings (Beraishis 15:1). And Rashi, referencing the Midrash (Midrash Rabbah, 44:4), explains that the...
A Wobbly First Step on LGBTQ+ and the Frum Community
by Rabbi Yisrael Motzen Perusing the comment section to the ‘First step’ article brought about a number of personal reflections. First and foremost, the analogy I used, comparing “Chani’s” choice to not keeping Shabbos,...
Parshas Noach – Our (Temporarily) Un-Whole World
The word “toldos” introducing the “account” of Noach is spelled in a subtly different way than its first appearance in parshas Beraishis, where “eleh toldos hashamayim vi’ha’aretz” (Beraishis 2:4) concludes the account of the...
Rabbi Moshe Tendler ZT”L – A Personal Appreciation
He saved my Yiddishkeit, but I never realized it until he was gone. The gift that he provided to so many of us seemed so natural and obvious, that we failed to recognize its...
Closing the Abortion Discussion
So, now it has become clear: Rabbi Broyde seems to have entirely misconstrued the Agudah’s position, and this is why he claimed that the Agudah was somehow at odds with Rabbi Gordimer’s correct, factual...
A Reply to Rabbi Yaakov Menken on Abortion
by Rabbi Michael J. Broyde Rabbi Menken wrote: Abortion: I do not know the source for Rabbi Dr. Broyde’s claim that per Agudath Israel, “a fetus is not a person in the Jewish tradition.” I...
AOC’s Unconcern With Jewish Lives
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez offered an apology last Friday, but it was the wrong one. She had decided at the last minute to vote “present” instead of “no” on a resolution to provide $1 billion...