Dear Friend: We are writing to update you on the recent activities of the newly formed Society for Halakhic Creativity, Innovation, and Renewal. This umbrella organization – known by its acronym, SHICR – was...
Two visits by pairs of wonderful young rabbis highlight an issue in Torah education that I believe requires attention. Both meetings were set up by senior rabbis whom I respect greatly and both were...
“He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong.” That is how Bif Loman, son of the protagonist of Death of a Salesman, summed up his father�s life. Any attempt to measure the life of...
Two weeks ago, one of those periodic media items painting the Torah Jews in a faintly ridiculous light flashed across the Israeli media for 24-hours before flaming out. Most chareidi Jews never hear of...
Righteous Gentiles The following is an except from a letter I received from a gentleman in Canada. �What is a Noachide allowed to study? I have heard about three answers to this question. I...
Ah, for when life was simpler! One of our readers, Shalom Simon, stuck it to me regarding my post on the grand debate at Harvard Law School. He asked whether the event (which had...
There are some groups whose search engines are going 24/7 seeking out foibles among the Orthodox and seemingly absurd or inciting comments of Rabbis. I describe such a “red herring” case in the Jerusalem...
�Limdu hora techilah,� advises Rabbenu Bachya ibn Paquda in Chovos Halevavos. �Study evil first.� There is much to learn by first considering the alternatives to truth. Around tens of thousands of our Shabbos tables...
Here is the link to Wendy Shalit’s insightful essay in the New York Times Book Review about the depiction of charedim in contemporary fiction. I had posted it here, but concerns have been expressed...
My posting on the Slifkin matter has generated thoughtful comments that raise significant questions. I would like to elaborate on what I wrote previously and also indicate that a somewhat extended discussion of my...
