Reading Between the Hardlines
Mere days after senior Hamas operative Muhammad Hemada Walid al-Quqa blew himself up preparing a bomb, The New York Times noted, in a recent front page story about the Muslim Brotherhood, that “some of...
Curing the Annual Chumash Doldrums: New Volume of Abarbanel
We’re not supposed to say it. But for many people it is true. They have their favorite parshios of Chumash, and their not-quite favorites. The latter begin, for some, this coming week. Nothing wrong,...
Rabbi Bleich’s New Volume: a Potential Life-Saver
Rabbi Dovid Bleich’s volumes on Contemporary Halakhic Problems are the gold standard in evincing the ability of our mesorah and the timeless halachic tradition to respond to changed conditions and advances in knowledge. Volume...
Xenophobia and Loving the Ger
The commandment to love the ger has long been the subject of a tug of war between two camps. Traditional Jews understand it the way the Talmud did – as a reference to a...
Ba’alos Mesorah
In Putting Our Money Where Our Mouths Are, Dr. Rivka Press Schwartz poses an acute challenge to Orthodox communities. The discussion below is not intended to refute Dr. Schwartz, but rather to respond to...
What the Doctor Ordered
A Dutch doctor who ordered an elderly dementia patient’s family to restrain her as she was given a lethal injection was recently cleared of wrongdoing by a panel that considered the case. In 2002,...
Fortunate Fallout?
The fallout of what has most alarmed some about President Trump’s immigration executive order may turn out to be a blessing. There are certainly reasons to question the order, which restricts immigration from seven...
The OU Makes It Unanimous
It is unanimous among Orthodox Jews: Orthodox Judaism is eternal and does not change to accommodate passing trends.
Paskening Like the Blogs
A few people commented to me that it seems like the ruling by the OU Rabbinic Panel that women can’t be ordained or appointed as clergy is getting a real beating, as “everyone is...
Schmutz is not Torah Law
There hasn’t been a change. Schmutz continues to be Trump’s modus operandi. He has done nothing to unite the country and just about everything that he could to further divide the country. It is as if vulgarity is as much part of him as is the skin that encases his body.