Clik here to view.
Breaking News: Soloveichik (and Rav Soloveitchik) Agrees with Lopatin,...
I am including as a post below a letter from Yitzchak Zev Soloveichik commenting on my post in Morethodoxy regarding outside influences on Halacha. Yizchak Zev is the grandson of Rav Ahron Soloveichik,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kol Isha Controversy In Israel and Articles on Kol Isha – Barry Gelman
Recently a Kol-Isha controversy has arisen in Israel. In another instance Rav Levanon compared the requirement that male soldiers sit in a program when women are sining to a “time of persecution” that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Desexualizing Public Space – by Rabbi Zev Farber
Introduction The story is told (b. Taanit 24a) that Rabbi Yossi son of Rabbi Avin left his teacher, Rabbi Yossi of Yoqrat, in order to study with Rav Ashi. As leaving one teacher for another was an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
From Behind the Veil of Tzniyut: Using Modesty to Block Women as Ritual...
American Jews, secular and religious alike, have been united in their rejection of Jewish extremists’ headline-grabbing attempts to keep young girls and women out of public spaces in Beit Shemesh,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Frum Bridalplasty? On Shidduch Dating and Bean Counting – by Rabbi Zev Farber
There has been much talk about Yitta Halberstam’s Jewish Press article about the crisis of shidduch dating. That such a crisis exists is nothing new, as psychologist Michael J. Salamon makes eminently...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Davening Among the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes – by Rabbi Zev Farber
Several months ago, a guest speaker visited our synagogue for a talk on current events in the Middle East. I enjoyed the talk and after services I asked my wife what she thought. She responded: “Did...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Learning from Hillel and Shami
A Brooklyn based newspaper, Yated Ne’eman, has recently tried to cast more inclusive sections of Orthodoxy in a negative light. Instead of understanding Rabbi Zev Farber’s recent Morethodoxy post...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Shifting Expectations: Women and Work
I love eating challah, but until recently, I refused to be a “challah baker.” The term irrationally evoked an image of a woman chained to her kitchen, slaving away for the sake of others, with no...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Women’s Participation in Ritual: Time for a Paradigm Shift – by Rabbi Zev Farber
Today, the baseline in any Orthodox community is that women do not participate in public ritual at all. In the average Orthodox synagogue, there is not one thing that women do which is part of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Partnership Minyanim: A Defense and Encomium – by Rabbi Zev Farber
Partnership minyanim such as Shira Hadasha in Jerusalem and Darkhei Noam in New York, wherein women lead certain parts of the service, are becoming a significant force in the prayer experience of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Orthodox Women Rabbis: A Response to the Blogosphere and a Hope for the Future
Orthodox Women Rabbis: A Response to the Blogosphere and a Vision for the Future By Rabbi David Wolkenfeld Rabbi David Wolkenfeld is the incoming rabbi at Congregation Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What Threatens the World and the Rabbinate? by Rav Yoel Bin Nun
What threatens the Torah world and the rabbinate? It is not the “draft decree” into the IDF, nor the “equality of burden” proposal, nor even budget cuts or the elections for the Chief Rabbinate. All...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Alternative Berakhot for Women’s Torah Reading – by Rabbi Zev Farber
Many Orthodox synagogues have women’s prayer groups, with one of the main features being the reading of the Torah. The halakhic issues with regard to this practice have been discussed and debated at...
View ArticleClik here to view.
No Agunah Left Behind: A Proposal to Solve the Agunah Crisis – by Rabbi Zev...
At the recent agunah summit, I submitted an outline for a solution to the agunah/mesurevet gett problem. Having sent this to a number of rabbis and agunah activists, I post here a revised version of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Sikh and a Jew Walk Into an Airport….
Last week, I participated in an interfaith panel of Jews and Sikhs at the Le Mood Festival. For those who have been to a Limmud conferences in the States, picture Le Mood as the Montreal (read: hipper,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
When is it Appropriate to Pressure Employers of Recalcitrant Spouses?
This Monday, ORA (the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot) organized a protest in Washington DC to pressure Aharon Friedman, chief of staff for Congressman David Camp, to deliver a gett to his...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tefillin and Clean Bodies – Part 2: Women Wearing Tefillin – by Rabbi Zev Farber
See: Tefillin and Clean Bodies – Part 1: Elisha’s Wings Women are Exempt from Wearing Tefillin According to the Mishna (Berakhot 3:3), women are exempt from wearing tefillin. Women, slaves and minors...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Anti-Anti Communism and Anti-Anti ‘Partnership Minyan”
by David Wolkenfeld During the 1950s and 1960s there were American liberals who adopted (or who were labeled) “anti anti Communists.” These figures, although not supporters of Communism, recognized...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Guest Post by R. Ysoscher Katz: Translation of a Letter to Rav H. Schachter...
In response to numerous requests for a translation of my response to Rav H. Schachter’s letter on Partnership Minyanim, I am posting a translation When translating from one language to another one runs...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Crowd-Sourced Bibliography on Tefilin, Partnership Minyanim, and the Future...
Will Rogers once quipped, “I don’t belong to an organized political party; I’m a Democrat.” To which I would respond, “I don’t belong to an organized Jewish denomination; I’m Orthodox.” Dozens of...
View Article
