Chutzpah or Incompetence?
Or maybe just cluelessness. In any event, UTJ’s proposed legislation to create a recognized “therapist” designation to seminary girls after taking a few courses in art or play therapy is a terrible idea. A...
Vo’eira – Nobody Will Get Stoned
Slight divergences between the Torah’s words or phrases and Targum Onkelos’ rendering of them are often laden with meaning. One such seemingly minor change is in the Targum’s translation of Moshe’s words: “Were...
Shemos – Best-Laid Plans
The account of Moshe’s being placed in the river, discovered by bas Par’oh and raised in royal surroundings would seem to be of no import regarding the main narrative of Shemos – Moshe’s...
Vayechi – In Praise of Diaspora
Eretz Yisrael is the desideratum to which the Torah’s entire narrative leads. From Hashem’s promising the Land to Avraham’s descendants, to our ancestors’ exodus from Mitzrayim and years of wandering in the desert, the...
Vayigash — No Fair
Imagine the emotions of Yosef’s brothers at the start of the parsha. They have been grievously treated by Tzafnas Pa’ene’ach, the Egyptian king’s viceroy, who accused them falsely of being spies, then insisted that...
“Give Me Yavneh and Its Sages”
Realistic Orthodox Judaism Saves by Accommodation (Another Reply to Ben Shapiro’s article in the Jewish Press) by Rabbi Michael J. Broyde This article is an expanded and footnoted version of an article published in...
My White House Park Bench Chanukah
Should you ever happen to find yourself in an ornate, high-ceilinged room and a military-uniformed string ensemble is segueing from a flawless rendition of a Bach Concerto to an equally impressive (if considerably less...
Parshas Miketz – Second Time Around
Yosef, as an Egyptian viceroy, is so emotionally conflicted as he maltreats his brothers, who don’t recognize him, he has to leave the room to cry (Beraishis, 42:24). Why he felt he had to...
Why Ben Shapiro Isn’t Quite Right
Ben Shapiro’s stinging rebuke of Modern Orthodoxy ought to be met with two reactions. The first is full-throated acclaim for his central premises, articulated with his usual clarity and incisiveness: Torah values must reign...
Vayeishev – Never Say Die
He refused. That is the meaning of the word vayima’en, a word used twice in the story of Yosef in this parsha, once to describe a refusal by Yaakov Avinu, the second to describe...