The “O”-Word
The recent suggestion by the rabbi of a West Coast Orthodox congregation that one of the birchos hashachar (morning blessings) recited each day by Torah-observant Jews be eliminated—he sees it as insufficiently enlightened—is a...
Category: Religion
A Survivor Speaks Out
by Pinny Taub I reached a point that I cannot sit idly by and watch how the Jewish people are being stepped on, day in and day out, by none other than people who...
No One Wants to Wash the Dishes
“Everybody wants social justice, but no one wants to help Mom with the dishes,” writes University of Haifa economics professor Steven Plaut of Israel’s current social protests. I suppose he is saying that left-wing...
Reading the Riots Act
Riots that started in London’s Hackney neighborhood last week spread quickly across London and to other large British cities, as rioters saw policemen standing back as they looted and burned. Meanwhile, in major American...
Anti-Orthodox? What Anti-Orthodox?
Below is the “News and Analysis” feature from last week’s Ami Magazine, republished here with permission. Anti-Orthodox? What Anti-Orthodox? In the most recent edition of the New York Jewish Week, the paper’s editor and...
Compromising on “Principle”
“Those are my principles!” famously declared Groucho Marx. “And if you don’t like them, well… I have others.” Principles are important, to be sure. But Groucho wasn’t entirely wrong. There are principles… and there...
Can We Talk Honestly?
A few months back, a group of national religious rebbetzins set off one of those two-day media storms for which Israel is famous when they issued a public call for Jewish girls not to...
A Burning Issue
Sybil Sage, a Jewish writer and artist living in New York, asked her son if he minded her plans to have her and his father cremated. “How about I make urns for Dad and...
Someone Else Who Gets It — Almost
While I don’t read the Baltimore Jewish Times often anymore, someone showed me this week’s issue and I came across an op-ed that I enjoyed reading. Given that the first half is filled with...
Dr. Middos is Not Just for Kids
Rabbi Chaim Vital asks a fascinating question: Why does the Torah not specifically command us to avoid negative middos like anger or to develop those associated with the talmidim of Avraham Avinu (Avos 5:19)...
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