Articles

Rabbi Alan Yuter discusses halakhic approaches to the Mechitsah separating men and women in Orthodox synagogues.

Rabbi Hayyim Angel begins a new series on the Book of Kings on Monday, October 16. Classes are held in conjunction with the Beit Midrash of Teaneck. In-person classes are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:00-12:45 pm, at the Teaneck Jewish Center (70 Sterling Place). Classes also are available over Zoom at that time. They also are recorded and available for listening at any time by registered participants.

If Abraham was going to become a forefather of a great nation as God had promised, it was only through Sarah that this would come to pass.

One modern technique of responsible stewardship is the “stress test.” This technique forces leaders to consider the effects of undesirable and even unjust possibilities they might otherwise ignore. Can religious ideologies be stress-tested?

There are evil people in the world whose wickedness is so deep that they cannot be redeemed. Don’t be a naïve believer in the goodness of all humans. But don’t completely give up your naivety. Because once you lose that naivety, the fire within you dies…along with hope for the ultimate redemption of humanity.

Attempts to portray our biblical heroes or rabbinic sages as perfect saints is not only an affront to them and to truth: it actually promotes a religiously problematic worldview.

We need to get beyond the “victim mentality.” We need to do far more to foster a positive, confident and courageous Jewish people. We need to publicize and promote philo-Semitism.

Societies (and empires) unravel when people lose trust in each other. This is seldom an abrupt dissolution, but—as in the times of Noah—a gradual breakdown in elementary decency.

Rabbi Hayyim Angel writes short book reviews of recently published books of interest. This article appears in issue 42 of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals.

Rabbi Yaakov Beasley writes a review essay on Rabbi Yoel Bin Nun's book, Prophets Against Empires.