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On Syria and our Sins - Never again

09/02/2013 03:22:04 PM

Sep2

Almost exactly 75 years ago, as Nazi Germany swallowed up Czechoslovakia, the civilized world decided it would do its very best to avoid any sense of humanity or responsibility.

Neville Chamberlain declared that, to risk British lives “because of a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing” was nonsensical. The result was a year of peace, followed by the most terrible war the world has ever...Read more...

Shall your brothers go out to war?

07/11/2013 07:12:59 PM

Jul11

Last Shabbat I argued as well as I could, for the continued exemption of yeshiva students from the army. Some people missed my opening paragraphs in which I said that I would be speaking this week for the other side, and that this is as much an exercise in mutual respect as anything else. In fact, some were offended by my taking such a one sided stance. I had some conversations with people who were very confused about what had happened to...Read more...

The Case for Army Exemptions - Why Yeshiva Students belong in Yeshiva

07/01/2013 11:24:53 PM

Jul1

When I decided to speak about the looming schisms and building animosity amongst our people, I realized one thing. It is not intellectually honest to both advocate for tolerance, and give whole hearted expression to only one side of an argument. That’s how one creates macholket, not solves it. And so I set myself a challenge, and it is a challenge I set before all of us today. The central issue right now in Israel is the proposed draft for...Read more...

Tolerance and Respect

06/24/2013 04:52:14 PM

Jun24

I want to use my drasha for the next few weeks to talk about the specter of religious violence and intolerance that is rapidly bubbling to the surface in Israel and indeed here in the orthodox community.

But first a joke, albeit not a funny one

I’m actually going to tell the joke the way it was written and it was written by a writer called Emo Phillips, it is apparently the 45th funniest joke of all time, according to GQ...Read more...

Long Hot Summer of Hatred?

06/21/2013 12:31:49 PM

Jun21

These are fraught times for the Orthodox community and the Jewish people. Issues such as Women of the Wall, the proposed draft of Yeshiva Students to the Israeli army, the elections for the Chief Rabbinate in Israel (last week one of the most respected Rabbis in Israel called a candidate for Chief Rabbi a 'wicked man..his election would be akin to bringing idols into the Holy Temple') and many others, threaten to shatter what little sense of...Read more...

Tue, December 3 2024 2 Kislev 5785