The Jewish Press newspaper has a bi-weekly feature in which questions are asked to a group of rabbis. One of the respondents is Rabbi Marc Angel, and here are his replies to several of the recent questions.
Our lives should not be viewed as a contest to take as much as we can and to give as little as we can get away with. Rather, life is an adventure of human interrelationships where we all win when we all do our share. To walk in freedom and dignity, we need to avoid eating "the bread of shame".
Many of the central themes in the Haggadah are rooted in biblical thought. Among other teachings, the exodus forms the basis for the singular covenantal relationship between God and Israel; it highlights God’s greatness in history; and it serves as the model for the future redemption. In this essay, we will survey examples from various sections of Tanakh to see how these and related themes are developed.
With Hashem’s help, this crisis too shall pass. Until it does, your health care workers are all braving this pandemic to treat the ill. So too everyone must do his and her part to protect the most vulnerable among us. In this pursuit, we are all healers and partners with Hashem in saving the world.
Self-initiated directed travel can be undertaken whenever decision-making is needed on a pressing matter, or when feels chronically bored, stagnant, or emotionally adrift. One chooses an unfamiliar location at least several hours
away by transportation, preferably where extended strolling or hiking is possible, and goes there alone.
Rabbi Keith Flaks has been teaching at Yeshivat Orayta for the last number of years. Several years ago, he spent Pessah with the "lost tribe of Ephraim" in Southern India...and they learned a lot from the experience.
For democratic Orthodoxy, the ideal Jew is a moral agent who knows how to determine “what is right and good” (Deut. 6:18), who is prepared to hold Jewish leaders to account, and who is faithful to Torah’s norms and to one’s own Torah informed moral compass. The democratic Orthodox Jew challenges human authority when that authority conflicts with Torah’s norms.
In response to the devastating Coronavirus pandemic, Israel’s government has outlawed public gatherings. In spite of the mandatory lockdown, there have been numerous instances of non-compliance among Haredi Orthodox Jews. Is it permissible/obligatory to inform civil authorities of these violations?
We have the possibility of a direct and personal relationship with God, and this is the route we should aspire to follow. It is, to give an analogy, the difference between having direct access to the President, instead having to make appointments with his secretaries and assistants. We have no need of intermediaries.
There are practices and some beliefs in Judaism that most people today would define as superstitions. My aim here is to investigate some of these in order to see to what extent these practices or beliefs are coeval with what was considered science at the time of our Sages.