Noah Feldman Jewish communities risk shuning next generation of Jews who are products of mixed marriages Last week the New York Times published a long essay by a Harvard Law Professor Noah Feldman. While once affiliated with Modern orthodoxy, Feldman is not religious today and is married to someone who…
Category: Religion
How Do We Know Who To Believe
A recent damning television expos_ of a purportedly religious (Kabbalah) group has forced me to re-examine my own religious beliefs. Many of my beliefs have been influenced not just by intellectual arguments but in a large part also by exceptional teachers. Indeed, beliefs, by definition, cannot be verified with certainty…
Signs of Trouble from the Pope
The Catholic church seems to be embracing an ideology similar to Islamic Fundamentalists Last week Pope Benedict XVI authorized a wider use of the old Latin Mass known as The Tridentine Mass. Immediately Abraham Foxman, of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a statement condemning this Papal decision saying that “we”…
Can Religious People be Tolerant?
It is people, not religions which are violent, and sadistic people will use religion for their cruel and evil aims. People who are tolerant and peaceful by nature will find these values within their religion Can a truly religious person really be tolerant of a heretic? Or to rephrase the…
The Benefits of Entrepreneurial Rabbinics
Instead of being beholden to a community which may not share the rabbi’s values, the rabbi can attract people who value the contribution his teaching and leadership style offers them Two years ago I decided to leave congregational rabbinics and become an entrepreneurial rabbi instead. For four years I…
Rabbis and Politics
Israeli PM with Rabbi Yossef Religious leaders need to set aside any personal political bias, give opinion based on honest, objective interpretation of Biblical law As a rabbi who at times writes about current events and politics people often write to me saying that rabbis should keep out of politics…
Rabbis and Politics: Are They Compatible
A religious leader commenting on a hot political issue will need to set aside any personal political bias and give an opinion based on an honest and objective interpretation of Biblical law viewed through the prism of thousands of years of tradition. In response to my article about politics some…
Corrupt and Hypocritical Religious Leaders
Corruption, sin and hypocrisy are unfortunate facts of life and to give up on religion because of hypocritical and corrupt religious leaders is to throw out the baby with the bathwater No wonder people are getting fed up with religion when things like this happen. Just last week one…
Judaism: in the Home or in the Synagogue?
How often have you heard people say, “I am a Jew at heart although I do not go to Shul much?” What should the role of a synagogue be in the life of a Jew? Historically, the synagogue only became a permanent institution in Jewish communities after the destruction of…
Moshiach: it’s In Our Hands Now
Amongst other things, the Torah teaches us the six hundred and thirteen ordinances that God commanded us. Many of the Torah’s laws are dependent on the existence of our Holy Temple. Consequently nearly half of these six hundred and thirteen ordinances have not been applicable for the last two thousand…