Causes-The Virtual Golden Calf
What I am about to say is somewhat objectionable, but that’s fine. Anyone who doesn’t want their sensibilities challenged a bit is probably not going to read a Torah web site anyway. I’m not saying...
View Article30 Days before the Festival
Everyone I know, Jew and Gentile alike, can’t stand how Christmas has become a two month celebration starting basically right after Halloween. It’s OD. For almost a solid month some radio stations...
View ArticleIt’s a Boy, and other eighth day ideas-Parshat Shemini 2013
This will probably be the last of a blitz of things I’ve written/posted… about having a son, which is a big deal for me. I really thought after 2 girls that was it for having a boy. It is different....
View ArticleRighteousness of an ‘Entitled’ Girl’s Rant
Maybe Suzy Lee Weiss was whining. That’s really not for me to evaluate. Her message was nonetheless stinging and insightful: the college admission process has made the tafel ikar and the ikar tafel...
View ArticleProfiteering off of Jewish Ritual
I am well aware by now that many Christian groups have reversed the traditional anti-Jewish position that the various Churches have taken over the centuries. I am even aware that some have started...
View ArticleThe Delusion of Alienation-Parshat Emor 2013
A lot of people are trying to understand how could it be that two American teenagers could do what the Tsarnaev’s did in Boston. I believe believe both sides are equally concerned with trying to stop...
View ArticleRough Sex?!?!?-A JVO Question
I have a question concerning sexuality : my wife likes harder sex and other things like that from time to time (but nothing extreme). What to do? There’s very few things that the Torah (Five Books of...
View ArticleInstant Karma-Behar/Behokutai 2013
I usually don’t think of rabbis making threats, but one statement in the Mishnah in Avot has become one for me: Ribbi Nehunia ben Hakana says anyone who takes up the mantle of Torah the...
View ArticleWhat’s So Bad About Leprosy?-Parshat Beaalotecha 2013
I like Amanda Bynes, as much as anyone can take sides on who are the good guys and bad guys of Hollywood. It’s why watching her slide has been more upsetting than let’s say Lindsey Lohan, although...
View ArticleThe Woman of the Wall Dilemma-JVO Question
Wouldn’t the Jewish people and Israel be better served to solve the Woman of the Wall dilemma quietly through political and legal channels? Israel is a democratic country where citizens can make change...
View ArticleThe Life and Death of Koach
When I got to Brandeis after high school I knew I wanted to be more “Jewish”, whatever that meant. In fact pretty quickly I decided also that I wanted to be a rabbi, again whatever that meant. I did...
View ArticleThe Essence of Tolerance
People misuse the word tolerance all of the time. Laying the claim of “intolerance” is a way of pressuring people to accept things they don’t, or shouldn’t. This is what tolerance really means.
View ArticleHitchens Doesn’t Understand Jews
Poor Hitchens. He didn’t find out he was Jewish until it was very late for him to actually find out what that meant. Didn’t stop him from writing like he did know. A critique of G-d is not Great.
View ArticleProtected: The Haredi/MO Divide-Tisha B’Av 2013
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View ArticleTu B’Av-A JVO Question
Question: What is Tu b’Av? Do we celebrate it today? What is the significance of the day? Answer: There are two days on the Jewish calendar that were considered the most joyous among the Jews of the...
View ArticleFarber’s Folly
Not everything that you think needs to be said and not everything you’d like to say should be put in print, or blogged for that matter. Unfortunately, not following this rule can have very negative...
View ArticleNomorethodoxy: Lopatin, YCT, and Crossing the Line
The question of what makes someone Jewish really consists of two separate issues: biological descent and self concept. Self concept is the basic set of ideas that distinguish Judaism as a unique belief...
View ArticleThe Rabbinic Math Problem-Parshat Reeh 2013
If you look at Judaism today, practice is similar, but not quite the same as Jews were doing it in Biblical times. Jews wore tzitzit (fringes) on their actual clothes rather than something just for...
View ArticleThe Documentary Hype
If you had told me that 13 years after graduating college that I’d even be addressing the issue of Documentary Hypothesis, I’ll tell you not possible. From everything I’d understood even when I was a...
View ArticleThe Dangers of Throwing Down-Parshat Ki Tetzei 2013
I like to pick fights. It’s a problem because that’s not particularly rabbinic. So, I do my best to direct my energy to fighting the good fight, attacking ideas and not people, and basically sticking...
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