Emunah Peshutah � Response to a Reader
Reaction from readers � posted and not � shows that the words of R� Simcha Zisel of Kelm (see “A Torah Rationalist’s Manifesto,” Feb. 24) struck a responsive chord. One reader may have supplied...
Siyum HaShas and the Shufflers
One way in which authentic Judaism differs from societal norms currently in vogue in the Western world is that Judaism abhors the cult of hero-worship. Before you lift your strongest finger to punch out...
Voodoo Statistics
Edah, the ultra-Modern Orthodox fringe group whose coterie consists substantially of people who are conservadox or otherwise not Orthodox, is outstanding in both its capacity to attract publicity and its capacity to raise funds....
A Torah Rationalist�s Manifesto
Many thanks to Rabbi Matis Greenblatt, literary editor of Jewish Action, who not only saves me much embarrassment by picking up my errors before publication, but inevitably throws in numerous tidbits of Torah insight....
Halakhic Creativity: An Intercepted Letter
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...
Wendy Shalit and her critics
Two weeks ago, Wendy Shalit had a much-discussed article in the Sunday NY Times Book Review, decrying the way Orthodox Jews are routinely pilloried in modern Jewish-American fiction. One of the writers she mentioned,...
Two Visits
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...
Requiem for Willy Loman
“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...
A one-woman truth squad
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...
Kiddush Clubs
The Orthodox Union dedicated last Shabbos to a national campaign to oust so-called Kiddush Clubs from shuls. In the past, Rabbi Heshy Billet, when he was president of the Rabbinical Council of America, also...