News reports indicate that the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, “the top Roman Catholic official in the Holy Land,” planted an olive tree on Sunday in the path of the separation wall being built by...

Long-time readers will remember that Toby Katz loved loved Ushpizin, which depicts an Israeli couple who adopted Orthodoxy (becoming Breslover Chassidim) and who have a pair of criminals — one of whom is an...

Here we go again. Yet another Rabbi thundering away that “calling Conservative Judaism a halachic movement is intellectually dishonest,” and pointing out that there’s not much standing between the commitment to observance of your...

Two Sifrei Torah and a Paroches were stolen from a synagogue in Westwood, CA on Monday night: Two Sefardi Sefer Torah in wooden boxes with the Rimonim. The boxes are white background with pictures...

Arutz-7 reports that “As of today, food may not be sold in Israel without being marked as either meat, dairy or pareve (neither milk nor meat).” A new law to this effect passed its...

This Shabbos it was my pleasure to join a retreat at a conference center. Jewish learning in a relaxed atmosphere, a mixture of serious discussions and fun had by all — what could be...

What would happen in Ori’s hypothetical mass teshuva of heterodox clergy? Would the laity become observant, or would they opt out of Judaism? My guess is that most would do neither. In fact, most...

In many respects, a piece in the September 20, 2005 New York Times (please don’t suspect me; it was someone else’s discarded copy) on suburban discord over a new Orthodox institution was predictable in...

Regarding Ori’s question, I reject the forced choices — I think the majority of Jews would join Orthodox shuls without becoming observant. That is option 3. And I think that would be a vast...