These articles by Isi Leibler originally appeared in the Jerusalem Post and Yisrael Hayom.
The tensions created by the ultra-Orthodox Chief Rabbinate within Israeli society have extended to the Diaspora and are now undermining relations with the Jewish state.
Monique Benun has been a teacher for the past nine years, primarily teaching science in yeshiva high schools in Brooklyn, New York. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Rutgers University and a master’s in General Science Education from CUNY. This article appears in issue 25 of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals.
Failure to learn is a result of exclusion from participation. When students are active participants in the processes of learning rather than passive recipients of transferred knowledge, learning is optimized. [1]
Mrs. Zipora Schorr has served as Director of Education of Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School in Baltimore, Maryland for more than three decades. She is the recipient of the 2003 Covenant Foundation Award for Exceptional Jewish Educators, serves as a member of the Board of Directors of RAVSAK, is the chair of the Principals' Association of the Day School Council of Baltimore, and lectures widely on best practices in education and on Board Development and Governance. Mrs.
Rabbi Jeremy Rosen is a graduate both of Cambridge University and Mir Yeshivah in Jerusalem. He worked in the Orthodox rabbinate and Jewish education in the United Kingdom before retiring to New York where he teaches, lectures, and writes. He is the rabbi of the Persian Jewish Community in Manhattan. This article appears in issue 25 of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals.
Introduction
Rabbi Dr Reuven P Bulka CM Rabbi Emeritus at Congregation Machzikei Hadas in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, is the author of many books and articles, has made 345 blood/platelet donations, is Chair of the Trillium Gift of Life Network (the Ontario governmental agency in the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care responsible for Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation), as well as being the founder and CEO of Kind Canada Généreux. He was appointed a member of the Order of Canada on June 28, 2013. He is married to Leah Kalish-Rosenbloom, and together they share many generations of offspring.
As I ponder the essence of Judaism, and how Orthodoxy has evolved since I was a student at Yeshiva University, I hear two distinct voices that emerge from those 11 years (1962–1973) spent at several schools of YU. I hear a voice of love and a voice of fear, mixed together, and an underlying tension that was inevitable in a clash of these two powerful energies.
Emily K. Alhadeff is the editor of Jewish in Seattle magazine. Her writing has appeared in Conversations, Tablet, The Times of Israel, Religion & Politics Magazine, and Moment, and she writes regularly for Microsoft/stories. She lives in Seattle with her family. Thanks to Al Maimon for his assistance with this story. This article appears in issue 25 of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals.
Rabbi Hayyim Angel is National Scholar of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. He serves as Rabbinic Scholar of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York, and also teaches Tanakh at Yeshiva University. A masterful teacher, his classes, lectures and writings reach many thousands of people throughout the world.
To our members and friends,
Dr. Israel Drazin is the author of thirty-five books, including about a dozen on the Aramaic translation of the Torah called Targum Onkelos, about a half-dozen commentaries on biblical books, about a half-dozen that offer rational approaches to Judaism, and three books on the twelfth century philosopher Moses Maimonides, published by Gefen Publishing House in Israel. His website is www.booksnthoughts.com.
Rabbi Joseph Radinsky, of blessed memory, was one of the outstanding rabbis of the American Orthodox rabbinate. Since 1963, he had been a pulpit rabbi, 13 years in Lafayette, Indiana, and 40 years in Houston, Texas. He had served on almost all the boards of the Jewish organizations in Houston, and authored a number of books and articles. This article appears in issue 25 of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. Sadly, Rabbi Radinsky passed away before his article was published, and we post it on our website in his memory.