It is at this time of year that synagogues make the most money. During the High Holidays some Jews feel obligated to attend a synagogue service, and for most it comes with a hefty price tagy. It will cost anywhere from seventy to several hundred dollars to attend services during…
Moral Compass When It’s a Choice Between Two Evils
The world is watching with a sense of horror at events unfolding in Syria and Egypt. Just this past week in Syria there have been credible allegations of chemical weapons use against citizens. In Egypt, protesters have been killed in the streets of Cairo by their own military. Yet it…
Biblical Criticism, the IRF, Divinity, and the Shofar
Over the last month or so, there’s been a lot of discussion in the Jewish world about biblical criticism sparked, initially, by an article posted at TheTorah.com by Rabbi Zev Farber, in which he questions the authorship of the Torah. This led to accusations of heresy and calls from some…
The CrossFit Rabbi
A year-and-half ago a CrossFit gym opened up in my office building, and I got to test out the intense fitness routine that has taken the world by storm. CrossFit isn’t an exercise routine that is suitable for everyone, however, after doing it four times a week for nearly three…
Joining Team Sacks to Expand the Jewish Center
In the Jewish world today, there are few thinkers and communicators more influential and able than the soon-to-retire chief rabbi of the UK, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks. This week he made it known that we should not expect him to go into a quiet retirement from Jewish life, but that…
Ordaining Women?
This coming Sunday Rabbi Avi Weiss will ordain a group of women who will serve as clergy members in Modern Orthodox synagogues in North America. Although this group of women will not be formally given the title of rabbi, they will have studied the exact same curriculum as any man…
Be a Statesman not a Politician
In this week’s Torah portion we read about the spies that Moses sent to spy out the land of Canaan before moving in to conquer it. And the Torah tells us that all but two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, came back with negative reports. The narrative in the…
Biblical Criticism: A Matter of Belief
Reprinted from The Times of Israel Biblical criticism has always been shunned as heretical by the traditional Jewish community. Recently, however, a new website (thetorah.com) has been created that states, ‘if traditional Judaism is to thrive then it must address biblical criticism. ‘ This is the result of many believing…
Women of the Wall Fight – Neither Side Can Win, Yet
The saga about the Women of the Wall, where a group of women are fighting for the right to to pray at the Western Wall (The Kotel) in the same way men do–including reading from the Torah–is a recent and painful example where modern societal expectations and conservative norms have…
Judaism’s Revolutionary Method for Divine Connectivity
Reprinted from The Times of Israel How do we deal with a God that is so transcendent that human beings have no ability to access Him? This is a question humans have been asking since the dawn of time. We have an innate desire to connect with the Divine and…