“The ability of an individual halakhist to bring about a change depends…on one’s ability to foresee the opposition of one’s peers to one’s innovation”
…the ability of an individual halakhist to bring about a change depends, to a...
Category Archives: Rabbis
“I want to know what my rabbi thinks of Jacob and Rachel, not of Pence and Pelosi”
I know outstanding rabbis on the left of the political spectrum and others on...
“…it is, I think, the biggest, the one most central to the debates within Orthodoxy today, and the most personal”
It is impossible to credit the claim that it doesn’t matter at all to...
“There are women who are learned and it is only fitting that they too have a title”
…I still don’t see the objection to female clergy. I am not talking about...
“Gadolhood is less about the individual erudition of a given rabbi and more about a social fact…”
Gadolhood is less about the individual erudition of a given rabbi and more about...
“…although Modern Orthodoxy has produced many brilliant and dedicated leaders and laymen, it has yet to cultivate younger figures possessing the authority and broad appeal of its founding fathers”
The charge that the establishment lacks even a healthy amount of dynamism is undeniably...
“The firmness of R. lsserles finds its fullest expression in his commentary on the Shulchan Aruch”
The firmness of R. lsserles finds its fullest expression in his commentary on the...
“A rabbi needs sufficient training to go deeper into Jewish tradition than a well-read Jew”
A rabbi needs sufficient training to go deeper into Jewish tradition than a well-read...
“R. Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik…wanted Christians to understand their scripture anew through sympathetic Jewish eyes and to educate his Jewish readers about their misunderstanding of Christianity”
R. Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik, the traditional rabbi from Lithuania…is actually more sympathetic to Christian...
“Rabbis in America and in Israel talk about political issues all the time, and maybe it is appropriate to ask whether that is a good policy for them and for the community”
Rabbis in America and in Israel are used to speaking about political issues. They...