...
Friday, 30 May 2014
Thursday, 29 May 2014
NY Times Guildhall at the heart of the City can be a lulling sort of place after a long day. The statuary and vaulted timber ceiling of the medieval great hall lead the eye to wander and the mind to muse on Britain’s strangest quirk — its centuries of continuity. Grace is said, claret is served, glasses clink and dreaminess sets in. A keynote speech from a central banker is all that is required to complete the soporific effect.Or...
Forward The leading rabbi of Agudath Israel of America, the ultra-Orthodox umbrella group, condemned non-Orthodox streams of Judaism and called the religiously progressive Open Orthodox movement heretical at the group’s annual gala.“The Torah must be guarded from the secular forces that seek to corrupt its values and the lives of [Jews], from intruders who sometimes in the name of Judaism completely subvert and destroy the eternal...
Wednesday, 28 May 2014
This is Rav Sternbuch response to the case of a woman getting a get from her husband who is in a vegetative state - that had been reported here. Freeing an agunah whose husband is in a vegetative stateUpdated version In response to Rav Zalman Nechmiah Goldberg. Added letter from Rav Zalman Nechmiah Goldberg and Rav Shlomo Fischer. Rav Zalman Nechmiah Goldberg writes that he only discussed the topic from a theoretical aspect and never permitted...
Tuesday, 27 May 2014
This was originally posted in September 22, 2008 see also halacha is not bean countingRav Yaakov Kaminetsky(Emes LeYaakov Parshas Yechi page 237): A practical example of zealousness which is not based on a correct reading of the halacha is found in the following question. A person has the choice of marrying a Jewish woman who doesn’t observe the laws of family purity or a non‑Jewish woman. Which is preferable? A student who has not properly...
Monday, 26 May 2014
I noticed this comment of Rav Moshe Feinstein this morning while I was looking through the 9th volume of the Igros Moshe. I found them puzzling since he is commenting on the gemora which itself says that a wife is similar to a slave. [Eliyahu G wrote: these exact words have already been written by R. Moshe in Dibros Moshe Gitin page 511] Text available on Hebrew Books hereMenachos (43b) It was taught: R. Judah used to say, A man is bound...
Saturday, 24 May 2014
Daily Beast Samuel Waldman, one of the main alleged child porn purveyors named in ‘Operation Caireen,’ is only the latest in a series of scandals buffeting Brooklyn's ultra-Orthodox community.Among the 71 people charged in Wednesday’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement child porn ring bust, there are more than a handful of surprising offenders, including a Little League coach and a former Westchester police chief....
Friday, 23 May 2014
NY Times When several rabbis and ultra-Orthodox men were accused in October of being a part of a ring that kidnapped and tortured Jewish husbands who refused to grant divorces to their wives, the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey said the number of victims might run into the dozens.But the authorities would not discuss any of those cases. Initially, the charges against the accused kidnappers were based only on an F.B.I. operation...
Happiness in Premodern Judaism Virtue, Knowledge, and Well-Being by Hava Tirosh-Samuelson Properly understood, I contend that in Judaism happiness does not mean possessing material goods, having fun, feeling content, or enjoying physical pleasures, although some of these elements may be part of the happy life. Happiness is not a subjective feeling manifested in a given moment or for a short period of time. Instead, it means flourishing, thriving, and experiencing well-being appropriate to human beings. It is an objective state of affairs...
Thursday, 22 May 2014
Wednesday, 21 May 2014
The following is a letter that Beth Alexander asked me to publicize. I am greatly saddened and disgusted that she had to publicize this request. It is inconceivable to me that anyone who has a Jewish heart would refuse her - and yet so far she has been unable to get permission from Chabad. This is especially troubling given the importance that the Rebbe and Rav Moshe Feinstein held of birthdays. Furthermore I have been informed that my...
NY Times In what law enforcement officials have described as the largest-ever enforcement operation in New York going after people who “possess, produce or distribute sexually explicit images of children,” 70 people have been arrested across the state and charged with crimes involving the exploitation of children.The people arrested include two police officers, two registered nurses, a paramedic, an au pair, and an individual who served as...
Tuesday, 20 May 2014
Guest Post by IzzyThe actions of Rabbis Kamenetsky and Schachter in the Epstein-Friedman matter unfortunately illustrate the severe problems caused by rabbonim and roshei yeshiva who have very close family and/or financial and personal connections to one party in a dispute intervening in a one-sided fashion to further inflame the dispute – all the while being treated as impartial and neutral arbiters and judges in such dispute. Epstein and Friedman...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
