Author: Yaakov Menken

3

Can Conversion Save the Jewish People?

In the article from Reuven Hammer that I quoted last week, he criticizes the adherence to halachic standards of conversion with the following statement: This perversion of Judaism by placing unnecessary stumbling blocks before...

13

Rabbi Avi Shafran on Intelligent Design

Hot off the presses (of this month’s Jewish Observer) is Rabbi Avi Shafran’s take on the Intelligent Design controversy. Some of his arguments you may have seen here before, but much else is new....

12

More on the Intelligent Design Decision

A long and thoughtful comment to my earlier post about the Dover court decision on Intelligent Design begins: “I’m a molecular biologist at UCLA, and after linking here from slate I hope to offer...

8

Getting It Right

Here’s a proposal anyone who believes in the value of Jewish education should agree with: the Jewish community should, as a priority, provide free schooling to every Jewish child. As Miriam Shaviv said, coming...

21

Bad Arguments, Bad Decision

A judge decided yesterday that Intelligent Design cannot be taught in the Dover school district in Pennsylvania. Agudath Israel’s response is terse, and reads as follows: The judge determined that the “Intelligent Designer” behind...

20

Transit Strike: Fire Them All

In our society, lawlessness can take many forms. Sometimes, the person extorting money from you isn’t a man with a gun, but a person with a neatly-pressed suit and a PR agency explaining why...

2

Food Crosses All Boundaries

There may not be many articles in Ha’Aretz that charedim would agree with, but here’s one that all can… well, scratch that. Ashkenazic Jews aren’t particularly known for enjoying spicy foods, either. There are...

6

What is Pluralism, Anyway?

Mrs. Katz’s post about pluralism today reminded me of something from the Jewish Week’s description of highlights from the USCJ Convention. Here are the two relevant paragraphs: An address by Rabbi Menachem Creditor, the...

1

On Honesty

Rabbi Reuven Hammer, head of the Rabbinical Court of the Masorti Movement and the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel, has an op-ed on JPost.com which relates directly to my post of yesterday evening. Officially, the...

Pin It on Pinterest