Halachic Child
by Rabbi Harvey Belovski In an attempt to catch the last moments of holiday spirit, my wife and I took our children to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew in West London on the...
Spiritual and Physical Resistance to the Nazis
Finally, a treatment with some balance. The Jerusalem Post, just in time for Yom HaShoah, provides an important review of the new translation of Hidden in Thunder: Perspectives on Faith, Halachah and Leadership During...
What Can’t Be Taught in the Classroom
This in from an alert reader: “Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims.” Not what you expected, was it? We’re used to being told how things like same-sex relationships need to be taught...
Jewish Influence
It isn’t likely that very many people exhaled at long last with relief at the news that three entertainment industry executives had compiled their pet list of “America’s 50 most influential rabbis.” But there...
A Dubious Milestone
Less than two weeks ago, I mentioned that the akismet spam blocker included in WordPress had trapped over 80,000 spams to our blog comments. We just hit 100,000. It’s an honor we could do...
Honesty on Patrilineal Descent
Most would agree that the single most consistent and dangerous flashpoint in the Orthodox-Heterodox divide is the issue of “Who is a Jew.” Much of the animosity and anger that the heterodox feel about...
Who is a plagiarist?
One story that is sure to grip the Orthodox world in coming months is the civil suit for plagiarism brought against best-selling author Naomi Ragen by Michal Tal. Well-known chareidi writer Sarah Shapiro has...
Rabbinic Controversy and the Lessons of History
While “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” (Santayana) it is not clear that those who do remember escape it. When it comes to rabbinic disputes, that may not be...
UK Soldiers in Captivity
There’s little time to write during the holiday, of course, but the news of the moment surrounds the British marines and naval personnel captured and then recently released by Iran. The news reports say...
An Unexpected Pesach Present
While my children were out purchasing their “afikoman presents” with my in-laws, I happened on my own holiday present in the form of a remarkable article by Dr. Francis Collins. The highly regarded Collins...