The Model is Working
Twenty years ago, no one thought it was “triumphalism” to refer to the exponential growth of the observant community. At that time, it was termed “unrealistic” — though then, as now, it was very real.
Category: Judaism
Mah Nishtana HaTerror Hazeh – Reprise
In his life — and especially in his death — Ezra was a nexus point where the four major forces that define Judaism come together: God, Torah, the Jewish People and Eretz Yisra’el.
What Has Changed in Thirty Years? – An Interactive Discussion
Jewish Action, the Orthodox Union’s quarterly, celebrates its thirtieth anniversary with a number of articles marking the event. An Orthodox high-quality, glossy color publication was ahead of its time in 1985. It anticipated those...
Through Others’ Eyes
There were ample arrows in my quiver for shooting down the question, or at least for deflecting it. But our Shabbos night seudah guest, a young Jewish woman with limited Jewish background visiting the...
The Price and Success of Contemporary Orthodoxy: Sociology or Theology?
In analytical Torah study, we learn to distinguish between a siman and a sibah – to differentiate between that which is a symptom and that which is a core factor which gives rise to...
Mah Nishtana HaTerror Hazeh?
The death of Ezra Schwartz became a national tragedy for America, Why has his tragic murder merited the attention it has received?
Schiller, Fartaytsht un Farbesert
One of our readers with an impish sense of humor sent me a link to a recent performance by the Jewish People’s Philharmonic Chorus of Schiller’s Ode to Joy in Yiddish. [WARNING: It is...
Truth Means More Than Numbers
Despite the great efforts of great rabbinical leaders and explicators of Jewish thought and belief, every generation has seen Orthodoxy lose the fealty of numbers of young people during their lives, meaningful demographic losses....
When in Doubt… Mesorah
For every halachic point made by those who resist the female rabbinate, Open Orthodoxy will counter with one they claim is in favor of a female rabbinate. But, in one arena of Jewish experience, an arena which is of equal standing to halacha, OO has no answer.
Denominational Déjà Vu
In 2001, I predicted that the Conservative movement would soon enough “halachically” approve what halacha forbids in no uncertain terms. [It did so 5 years later.] I perceive precisely the same Conservative approach to halacha in what bills itself today as “Open Orthodoxy.”
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