Valuing Values
With the summer came yet another judicial salvo aimed at the idea that certain values rooted in religious tradition are rightfully reflected in secular law.
Infusing Our Schools With Ahavat Yisrael
by Shmuel Jablon I have what may be described as a more “diverse” background than many other Rabbis who serve as principals of Orthodox Day Schools. I am a Baal Teshuvah who grew up...
What R. Samson Raphael Hirsch Would Say About Comboxes
Like most blogs, we allow anonymous comments. Recognizing their necessity doesn’t mean that we have to like them. Those who strongly hate them will find the following snippet refreshing. It is part of the...
The Universal Sukkah
Sukkos inevitably gives way to Shmini Atzeres. The parei ha-Chag brought on behalf of the nations of the world give way to a day of intimacy between Hashem and His people alone. The shift...
Israelis, Too, Want That Old-Time Religion
It will take awhile to put the pieces together in a way that demonstrates a clear trend. If anything, the new poll on the religious preferences of Israelis shows opposing trends coexisting. Israel’s Central...
A Shofar From a Different Day
If you haven’t seen it yet, treat yourself to a few minutes viewing this very poignant YouTube video about the intrepid young people who risked much to sound the Shofar at the Kotel at...
Stephen Hawking’s Rosh Hashanah Gift
For two weeks before Rosh Hashanah, R. Berel Soloveitchik could not taste food. It all went down like chalk, because he could not salivate. Anticipating the Divine judgment with which he would soon be...
The Specialness of Jewish History
Who wrote these lines? A philo-semitic commentator? A spokesman for the Christian right? I don’t think anyone has been slandered more than the Jews. I would say much more than the Muslims. They have...
Dispatching the Goat
Sin stems from insufficient recognition of how meaningful in fact are our lives.