Posts Tagged: Jewish Law
The Quest to Understand God Is the True Journey of Religion
“I am Ad’nai, your God, who took you out of Egypt” (Exodus 20:2). One of the most difficult subjects to write about is God. There are...
New Jersey Court Case Shows Religious Law Can’t Be Used to Suppress Women’s Rights
In an era where the fight for women’s rights often intersects with religious freedoms, this week’s groundbreaking decision from a New Jersey appellate court has...
What Judaism Tells Us About Wisdom and Learning
Jason Tan is a professor of Policy, Curriculum and Leadership at The National Institute of Education in Singapore. He is also an acknowledged expert on...
A Torah Quirk, and a Tale of Jewish Sustenance
A couple of weeks ago, during our Torah reading on Shabbat, the Torah reader suddenly stopped in his tracks and bent down towards the parchment...
Finding Love on Tu B’Av
Did you know that there was an ancient tradition that on two days of the year, unmarried girls used to go out dancing in the...
We Must Work Together So That All Yeshiva Students Get a Dual Education
In last week's Torah reading, Moshe Rabbeinu commands us to choose life -- “Uvacharta Bachaim.” From this, the Talmud Yerushalmi in Kiddushin derives that a...
The Torah Teaches That ‘Sight’ Is Unreliable
One of the primary sources of information at any trial is the testimony of witnesses who “were there” -- who saw an event take place...
Religio-Fascism and the Israeli Right-Wing
I have often expressed my frustration with politics -- in particular, Israeli politics. I dislike dogma and extremism on both sides. This week, I am...
Why the Torah Can — and Should Be — Considered a ‘Human’ Document
Despite the passage of several centuries, the debate over the authorship of the Torah is apparently far from over, if one is to judge by...
Adapting Jewish Law Isn’t a Trick; It Helps Us Preserve Tradition
The Bible emerged in -- and out of -- a world that was predominantly agricultural; a world where seasons and produce determined how societies flourished...
To Keep Young Jews, We Must Tell Them to Question Their Teachers
For me, it is a great privilege to dedicate my life to Jewish education, and I wouldn't exchange it for anything else. But I have...
My Controversy With the Mainstream Orthodox Community
When I was about 14 years old, I was drawn to Judaism for reasons I have discussed earlier. We lived in a small town called...
My Search for and Momentary Loss of God
I believe I've had some of my spiritual personality since I was a youngster. There was always a dimension of amazement and mystery that accompanied...
When Jewish Law Is Taken Too Far
"Halacha" is often translated as "Jewish law." But that is inadequate and misleading. Nowadays, we usually use the word law to mean jurisprudence. Halacha, however,...
