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Let’s face it: Modern Orthodoxy is a failure from a Hashkafic perspective (lifestyle wise I guess it’s mostly OK). It’s neither Modern nor particularly Orthodox. It has completely failed to address the hashkafic challenges of modernity, including science, ANE history and of course Biblical scholarship. Read More »

In the hands of the weak it’s a crutch.In the hands of the wicked it’s a weapon.In the hands of the masses it’s a comforter. Read More »

It takes a lot for me to post something these days, just too busy, and I’ve said pretty much everything there is to say. However this latest post from Hirhurim is worth reading. Read More »

One often hears in MO (and more specifically LWMO) circles about how Chazal darshened away some of the more egregious aspects of Biblical Judaism e.g. Ben Sorer uMoreh, the various death penalties and such. However from another angle, Chazal took Judaism in a worse direction than the Biblical writers. Read More »

I noticed someone recently posted a blog about how people in the Chareidi community live in fear of being labelled not sufficiently frum enough, and how happy the author was to be in Modern Orthodoxy. Read More »

I. Style Gil used to write with his own voice. More recently, all his posts seem to have a very detached quality about them. Not sure what he’s trying to achieve but it’s just not as good. II. Format He keeps using the short paragraph format, with each section having a title. Who said this was a good idea? III. Read More »

While everyone is all a flutter over the ridiculous evolution debate, I think the truly awful post this week on Cross-Currents was on another topic entirely, which everyone seems to have missed. Rabbi Yitzchak Adlerstein, who is usually one of the more sane contributors over there, has a truly offensive and obnoxious post . Read More »

Yep, that’s the message from Cross-Currents this week folks. What a bunch of idiots. Read More »

It’s not just Shafran writing inanities this week, Adlerstein is making a valiant effort too. Referencing Moshe Koppel (one of the scientists behind the computer analysis of multiple authorship of the Torah) as making a huge kiddush hashem, Adlerstein writes : “Larger than life challenges to Torah values can be met in two different ways. Read More »

Avi Shafran is at it again, posting inane nonsense, which typically undermines whatever points he is trying to make. This time he outdoes himself. There’s no need to go into detail about evolution. His first quote says it all: “Just as ordinary, pig-headed and unreasonable as anybody else” was the eminent twentieth century psychologist H.J. Read More »

http: //www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=137500077 Read More »

I noticed someone write the following: “Now, it is true that even today, we don’t really understand what magnetism, or gravity for that matter, actually is. We can measure and describe how it works, but we still don’t know what it fundamentally is. Nevertheless, we are fully confident that it is a natural, rather than supernatural, phenomenon. Read More »

Fundie: Chazal knew everything, they could have built a spaceship had they wanted. Normal Person: Don’t be stupid of course they couldn’t. Fundie: How dare you disrespect Chazal! I need to keep reminding myself that the Chareidim (or even the Orthodox) are not the people who really respect Chazal. Read More »

Weiner: ReformTropper: ChareidiWeiner: Facebook flirtingTropper: Forced would be converts to have sex with him/othersWeiner: ‘I made a terrible mistake and deeply regret it’Tropper: Admitted no wrongdoing and expressed regret for “what has appeared Read More »

“Even many of the most famous tales may be fictions. (Stories don’t become more factual with repetition).”http: //www.cross-currents. Read More »

What’s the difference between Holocaust Denial, Ancient Israel Denial and Documentary Hypothesis Denial? The answer is not as much as you might think. In general, there are numerous ways to ascertain what happened in the past. Read More »

East Jerusalem is not important. It’s not the historical site of Jerusalem (except maybe the edge of Silwan), nobody goes there, and if it will seal the (Peace) deal then we should give it up. Of course if there’s no deal to be had, then there’s no point in giving up anything at all, in fact it would be counterproductive. Read More »

I see that Hirhurim has dredged up the ‘teiku’ discussion again. The issue is, when there’s no good answer to a question, is it better to just say ‘teiku’ – you don’t die from a question, or better to try and answer? Personally I have always been Read More »