Jewish Blogs

Research Assignment: Explain Religion

How should we best explain religion? The Economist reported recently (“The good god guide: Tentatively, scientists are asking: exactly what is religion, and what is it for?”) on the project called Explaining Religion, “To bring a little scientific order to the matter, researchers taking part in a multinational project called Explaining Religion have spent three years gathering data on various aspects ...

Rereading Eishet Chayil for Mother’s Day with Sinai Live’s “More Precious Than Pearls”

Mother’s Day always makes me wonder: How do we convey the love, respect and gratitude we feel for the women in our lives – and for the fortitude and accomplishments of women everywhere?Jewish tradition offers one option in “Eishet Chayil,” an ancient poem from the Book of Proverbs. Sung before the Sabbath meal on Friday nights, the song opens with ...

Repairing the World One Less Chik’n Biscuit at a Time

How do we teach our children to put beliefs into action? At what point do we move our family ethical framework from dinner conversations to being moved to act by a cause? Years ago I hit the internet to make reservations at the closest hotel to Crawford, Texas, home of the Bush ranch. Protests were taking place against the war ...

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returns to vote on debt ceiling

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the bill to raise the debt ceiling. While the bill itself may not have made everyone happy, the appearance of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords sure did!Rep. Giffords returned to the House for the first time after being shot at a rally in January. After a long and difficult recovery, Rep. Giffords arrived on the House ...

Rep. Dave Camp Should Force Staffer to Grant Ex-Wife a Jewish Divorce

On the final day of the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, thousands of conference attendees descend on Capitol Hill to lobby members of Congress on issues important to the State of Israel. A few years ago I joined other pro-Israel Michiganders and lobbied Representative Dave Camp. The congressman wasn’t available to meet with us and left an ill-prepared staffer to ...

Remembering the Stranger

One of the central ethical injunctions of the Torah is not to wrong or oppress the stranger, for we were strangers in the land of Egypt (Exodus 22:20). “…You know the feelings of the stranger,” says Exodus 23:9, “for you were strangers yourselves.” This repeated admonition represents a profound moral challenge that also lies at the heart of the Passover seder: we ...

Remembering Jewish Chaplains

Now I did not know this but if you were to visit Arlington National Cemetery, there are three seperate plaques that are set up to memorialize different religious chaplains that have been killed as a result of their military service. There is one dedicated to chaplains from World War I and the other two are dedicated to Catholic and Protestant ...

Remember to wear your reflector when walking to shul

The first time I was told to wear a reflector when walking to shul was during an NCSY shabbaton in Syracuse, I thought it was nerdy and very overprotective modern orthodox of them to tell us to don reflective vests and belts which made us look like Jewish construction workers – it would have fit well because like most roadside ...

Religion Versus Financial Planning

These days I spend a lot of time volunteering as a gabbai at Kehilat Hadar, and among other things this means dealing with our budget concerns, i.e. making sure we have enough money to pay rent. So it was especially interesting to me to read this article in the Wall Street Journal about churches and other religious spaces that have ...

Rejuvenating Our Bond

The first Rosh Hashana at the beginning of creation was different than all future Rosh Hashanas. The presence of Hashem descended upon Adam without any effort. It wasn’t a matter of avoda, working to achieve an awareness of Him. Rather it was a complete itaruta dl’eleh, an arousal from above.In the Rosh Hashana davening we say, “Zikaron l’yom rishon, a remembrance of the first day.” ...

Rejected By The Community

I am not sure if I’ve come to the right place, but I suppose I’ve got nothing to lose. I am a Ba’al Teshuva of over a year and I am encountering issues/problems that are not ordinary. With Hashem’s help, I was able to get custody of my daughter and pull her out of a very horrible life. Since doing ...

Reject Yeshiva Memories

I was thrown out of the dorm in my last year of yeshiva for selling a stack of maxim magazines to this kid we nicknamed freezer boy after this incident. He was hiding his magazines in the freezer, and one of my classmates who knew all the spots from personal experiences had found the goods in his mini fridge. Instead ...