In his monumental work on Jewish law, Menachem Elon writes: "... Nahmanides coined an apt and pointed term that illuminates the meaning of 'doing what is right and good;' A person who acts according to the technical and formal sense of the Torah's laws, i.e.: who carefully follows only the explicit rules but not those implicit from the general spirit of the text, is 'a … [Read more...] about Hateful comments expressed in Israel regarding liberal Jews
Mark H. Levin
On Orthodox Conversion in the Twenty-First Century
A Conservative colleague once told me that the auspicious Rabbi Max Kiddushin told her that if a person says that s/he wants to convert a rabbi should convert that person immediately and teach the person later. Little did I know at the time that Rabbi Chuck Davidson's research, found in our newsletter of January 18th, would prove definitively that Rabbi Kiddushin's viewpoint … [Read more...] about On Orthodox Conversion in the Twenty-First Century
Judaism can marry modernity to traditional life
For more than a century Jews have debated how to guide the Jewish character of a sovereign Jewish State. Until recently, few thought seriously in terms of national halakhic standards. The Founders envisioned a Jewish ethic, not ritual Jewish practice. In Anita Shapira's 2014 book, Ben-Gurion: Father of Modern Israel, she writes: Just before the state was established, he … [Read more...] about Judaism can marry modernity to traditional life
The right of Jews to control our own religious lives
The Chief Rabbinate under Rabbi David Lau has instructed all the public mikvahs in Israel to not permit any conversions from any movement [link in Hebrew], and in that manner to prevent Reform conversions to Judaism. This in the aftermath of the Israeli Supreme Court decision two weeks ago permitting conversions in public mikvahs by all of the streams equally. The Orthodox … [Read more...] about The right of Jews to control our own religious lives
The “Disputatious” Kotel
The so-called compromise over prayer access to the Kotel has turned been attacked as giving away too much, as irrelevant to the real religious dispute in Israel, and as exclusionary of Orthodox women who refuse to give up their praying place. It has been lauded as a great advance, as a first in the legal recognition by the State of Israel of Liberal Judaism, as a triumph after … [Read more...] about The “Disputatious” Kotel