Reform, Really Rabbi Marci N. Bellows Jewish Week Online Columnist As Tu B’Shevat approaches each year, and we prepare to celebrate the New Year of the Trees, many of us rabbis love to return to one of our most favorite stories: Honi the Circle-Maker and the Carob Trees. Read More »

Editorial Gary Rosenblatt Editor and Publisher Hundreds of responses speak to insecurity in Modern Orthodox community. In the wake of the article he and I co-authored (Jan. 27) on Rav Aharon Bina of Netiv Aryeh, a yeshiva for American students in the Old City of Jerusalem, Yedidya Gorsetman received a message on Facebook from Rabbi Ari Fuld. Read More »

Tuesday, February 7, 2012 While proponents of kashrut tout its many auxiliary benefits — building community, a constant reminder of holiness — it is primarily a ritual, rather than ethical, obligation, taken on out of respect for God and/or tradition and not because keeping kosher makes the world a better place. Read More »

Tuesday, February 7, 2012 Every week, so many of us think of the news as what we see on front pages of newspapers. But every week there are families receiving life-changing news in the privacy of a doctor’s office. Read More »

Musings Rabbi David Wolpe There are times it appears that to be successful one needs to be a harbinger of catastrophe. Optimism is the besetting sin; we like our Jeremiahs, our Cassandras, and we are forever opening Pandora’s box. Read More »

Letters Elie Rubinstein I would like to express my gratitude to The Jewish Week for publishing William Rapfogel’s timely opinion piece, “When Jewish Foundations Ignore Core Needs” (Jan. 20). Read More »

Letters Seymour D. Reich It is distressing that Israel’s deputy consul general in New York, Shlomi Kofman, walked out while the president of the Jewish Labor Committee, Stuart Applebaum, was offering remarks, some critical, about the current Israeli Read More »

Letters Haskel Lookstein In the article on Rav Bina, Gorsetman and Rosenblatt ask a rhetorical question: “But some are wondering why, indeed, Netiv Aryeh is so popular, with an estimated 110 first-year and 60 second-year American students … Why do Read More »

Letters Rabbi Dov Fischer The Jewish Week will be accused of publishing lashon hora [slander] just as it was when it reported on Rabbi Baruch Lanner in 2000. Read More »

Letters David Solomon Every single thing that is written in this article [on Rav Bina] is 100 percent true. I know this because in my relatively short three-month stint in Yeshivat Hakotel over 10 years ago I personally experienced every single one of them … and more. Read More »

Letters Eliot Young This is a shameful article. I have Rav Bina to thank for the fact that I still take time out to learn and for the fact that I am constantly looking to grow. Read More »

Letters Andrew Mr. Packer implies that anonymity casts doubt on the veracity of an account; in my case it actually is my attempt to avoid being victimized all over again. An anonymous account is no less true than one that has a name attached. Read More »

Letters Paul Packer I have long admired the courage of The Jewish Week to tackle issues that impact the members of our community. However, I cannot begin to express my disappointment with your recent article about Netiv Aryeh and Rav Bina (“Has The ‘Tough Love’ Rebbe Gone Too Far?” Jan. 27). Read More »

Opinion Steve Gutow and David Saperstein Special To The Jewish Week This month we celebrate Tu b’Shvat, the Jewish new year for trees. Building on this ancient celebration of nature, American Jews are, increasingly, expanding their observance by honoring our entire planet. Read More »

Opinion Alan S. Jaffe, Michael S. Miller and David M. Pollock Special To The Jewish Week Since the founding of the Jewish Community Relations Council of NY in 1976, we have worked closely with law enforcement agencies charged with safeguarding New York’s Jewish community, especially the NYPD. Read More »

The Nosh Pit Amy Spiro Online Jewish Week Columnist Get a hot meal on the table with little effort Lately it seems like I don’t have a free minute and it’s hard to spend a whole lot of time in the kitchen. But I still like to have a hot, hearty meal and the end of each day – here are a few ways to accomplish that with minimal time. Read More »

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 The rhetoric and reporting around whether Israel, with or without U.S. involvement, will take military action against Iran this year, is ratcheting up. But that doesn’t make the conclusions any more clear. Read More »

Musings David Wolpe   Moses was born into trouble, placed in a basket to save his life. Pharaoh’s daughter “beholds” the child crying; noting that she saw and did not hear him crying the Rabbis conclude that the baby cried silently. Moses learned early what it was to fight, to have to hide, to be scarred by the world. Read More »

Letters Gerald M. Jacobs Ed Koch is a good man and we are fortunate to have his voice in support of Israel (N.Y. Minute, Jan. 20). Unfortunately, he has now been charmed by President Barack Obama into believing that Israel has a friend in the White House. Obama dislikes Israel and if re-elected he will implement the policies of Jimmy Carter. Read More »

Letters Mark Jones Eric Herschthal voices concerns regarding Freud’s Judaism — the fact that he “never renounced his Judaism. But he often distanced himself from Jewish beliefs” (“Freud, Schmeud,” Dec. 30). Read More »