A Response to Dr. Finkelman
Dear Reb Yoel, You should take great satisfaction in the discussion generated by your cogent and respectful submission. What ever else divides us, we both love Torah Judaism and the Jewish people. We both...
Prayer and Politics
I was heartened by the responses I received to my essay last week, in which I suggested that Jews of good will on each side of the issue of women’s prayer groups at the...
Challenge to All Anonymous Voices
By Yoel Finkelman [Editor’s Note: As mentioned a few days ago, Dr. Yoel Finkelman submitted a thoughtful but challenging reaction to an earlier piece that spoke of an anonymous Torah Voice. Others will certainly...
The Pew Study
Snatching victory from the jaws of media negativity is always a good idea. In this case, the good idea was entirely my colleague’s, Rabbi Abraham Cooper. When people pointed to the recent Pew study...
The “War of the Wall” Secret Weapon
It’s easy to dismiss the antics of Warrior of the Wall Anat Hoffman. Her guerrilla gatherings of women in vocal prayer services at the Kosel Maaravi, or Western Wall, in defiance of an Israeli...
The Cartel Has Been Broken
In retrospect, the phenomenon of Internet-trained Rabbis serving in Conservative and Reform congregations was bound to happen. For decades, the liberal movements have tightly managed their Rabbinic placements. The size of each class at...
Ideology or Community? An Exchange Between Rabbis Broyde and Feldman
[YA – Rabbi Ilan Feldman’s contribution to the new issue of Klal Perspectives continues attract the most attention. Our plan at KP is to collect both letters and longer responses to the issue, and...
A Torah Personality’s Pain
Not everyday do you get a call from a Torah personality asking you to spend more time on the internet, rather than less. But that is just what happened to me a few days...
A Jewish “Connection”
Most people, asked if there was any specific Jewish connection to the recent horrific murder of 20 first-graders and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, would probably respond “Noah...
Nothing to be Nervous about Neuroscience
I’ve encountered two attitudes in our community to cutting edge neuroscience. Many react to it less love than root canal. Its presumptions to offer “natural” explanations for things previously seen as spiritual and mysterious...