I must share with you a beautiful article that brought tears to my eyes. Someone, I don’t remember who, linked to this article and it popped up in my Twitter feed. Luckily I clicked and eventually read the article. So whoever you are, thanks for sharing! The article is written by a Jewish atheist. Read More »

Politicians from the Right often cite God or Jesus as a basis for political positions. Some even make the claim that they are running for office upon the advise of God Himself. Now, it is impossible for God to have told more than one particular person that they are destined to be the next president. Read More »

What follows is a guest post written by my illustrious grandmother. Readers of this blog will remember her from here: This Blog Post is in Honor of (one of) My Incredibly Accomplished Grandmother(s) . Read More »

A guest post by Rabbi Aaron Fink (my father), Dean of Ateres Bais Yaakov on Monsey NY. Part of a weekly Dvar Torah (Torah “Thought”) series. Parshas Bo A Good Time Parshas Bo heralds the birth of Klal Yisrael as the Am Segulah . So profound are the events contained therein that they define our destiny as banim la’Makom till today. Read More »

Last Sunday, two NFL teams advanced to the Super Bowl. Two other teams lost and were sent home for the winter. One of the notable things about both games was the lack of heroes for the winning teams. Instead of the winning teams making a great play to win the game, both of the losing teams made mistakes that gave the game away. Read More »

The Jewish Week has an exposé on the controversial Rosh Yeshiva of a certain yeshiva in Israel. For purposes of this blog post, it is irrelevant who this person is and what yeshiva he presides over. I have not met this rabbi nor have I ever been in his yeshiva. I have no personal experience to draw from. Read More »

Photo: Lloyd Wolf Yesterday, Rebbeztin Chana Weinberg passed away. She was a heroic woman and an important figure in the lives of many people including my father and grandmother. Her public claim to fame may have been her pedigree as a daughter of Rabbi Ruderman and the wife of Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg. Read More »

Ethiopian Jews Arriving in Israel During Operation Solomon One of my favorite things about visiting Israel is the diversity of Jewish people, practices and customs. In particular, the Kotel is a special place for so many Jewish people and even non-Jewish people. Read More »

A guest post by Rabbi Aaron Fink (my father), Dean of Ateres Bais Yaakov on Monsey NY. Part of a weekly Dvar Torah (Torah “Thought”) series. Parshas Vaera Light Unto the Nations The devastation of Mitzrayim during the 10 plagues left the Egyptian landscape changed forever. Read More »

So much excellent writing has come forth due to the controversy over Beit Shemesh and Meah Shearim. This week two additions to the genre found themselves at the top of the heap. Both authors are rabbis. Neither are rabbis that are appreciated or recognized by anyone (or almost no-one) in the right wing orthodox Jewish community. Read More »

I’ll be honest. There is very little that I like about Rabbi Shmuley. I rarely agree with his perspectives on life, Jews and Judaism. But recently I find myself defending him in my mind against the latest round of accusations against him. Rabbi Shmuley has written a book called Kosher Jesus . Read More »

I am indebted to Alan Brill of the Kavvanah blog for sharing this gem. One of my favorite topics and themes in Judaism is understanding the structure and methodology of the Talmud. I am constantly looking for more sources and studying, adapting and adjusting my understanding of the issues. Read More »

Clearly, there is no denying that urinating on dead bodies is a despicible act. Whether or not the Marines who performed the stunt intended for it to be a hateful act or were just horsing around is not the issue. Either way, it was wrong. It also sheds light on how the Marines perceive their enemies. Read More »

Photos – Right: Nan Goldin for The New York Times. Left: Associated Press. You may recall that I a little while ago I met and befriended an incarcerated woman named Judith Clark. See: My Visit With Judith Clark at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility . Read More »

Rabbi Julie Schonfeld makes an outrageous claim and Ha’aretz runs with it. The claim? A version of a siddur published in the 15th century contains the blessing she’asani isha v’lo ish . The blessing thanks God for making the one reciting the benediction a woman and not a man. Read More »

The world famous Pella Singers performed at our Chanukah lighting on Santa Monica Promenade a c0uple of weeks ago. It was a great event. People from all over the world joined in for a few minutes of our Chanukah celebration. The news cameras were there. I was interviewed by KABC-TV for a segment that never aired. Read More »

We did a family trip to the California Science Center at Exposition Park in Los Angeles yesterday. The museum is nice, albeit a bit outdated. Such is the fate of any museum that has exhibits of the latest and greatest in technology. Cell phones were a new obscure invention according to the exhibit on technology. Read More »

A guest post by Rabbi Aaron Fink (my father), Dean of Ateres Bais Yaakov on Monsey NY. Part of a weekly Dvar Torah (Torah “Thought”) series. Parshas Vayechi Smile! As Yaakov Avinu blesses his children he describes each of their traits and challenges. Read More »

It’s hard to revert to more traditional blogging after focusing on various angles of the situation in Israel. So to ease our way back into topics of lesser importance we begin with a post about gender roles albeit, in a much more innocuous context. LEGO was one of my favorite toys as a child. Read More »

Yesterday, I wrote about Yossi Sarid’s disgraceful article of vile hatred for halachic Judaism . I expressed my discomfort in writing a point by point response because when first started to write a point by point rebuttal, it came off as sounded apologetic and disingenuous. Read More »