Freedom is not with the Rabbinical Court By Pnina Omer – Jerusalem Post Oped, 10/6/2018 In a recent column, USA based attorney Alan Dershowitz protested the detainment of a US citizen in Israel, a citizen whose sole crime, according to Dershowitz, is the fact that he happens to have a son who refuses to give a religious …
Pittsburgh Strong According to statistics released by the FBI, of the approximately 3,000 hate crimes committed against religious groups in the US in 2016, more than half were committed against Jews. By Rabbi Kenneth Brander | October 31, 2018 A whirlwind of emotions has swept up Jews worldwide in the wake of the shocking and …
‘The Islands will Rejoice!’ Psalm 96 comes alive for the writer, who recounts her joyous journey on ‘shlihut’ in Papua, as an emissary of the Ohr Torah Nidchei Yisrael project. By Nili Salem B’Simcha – September 28, 2018 When the email was returned, we learned that the shlihut (emissary) opportunities to work with the …
The Message and its Messenger We have the opportunity to become the “authors” of the prayers we read and the Torah we study through internalizing their messages and personifying their ideals. By Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander – September 4, 2018 With the long days of summer winding down, we can anticipate the swelling of our synagogue …
Living in Hope and in Limbo Their hearts are in Israel; their bodies remain in Ethiopia. Will the story ever have a happy ending? by Maayan Hoffman August 31, 2018 Photos by Marc Israel Sellem Getachew Gebrei described his new yeshiva as a “light of Torah – wow!” Gebrei, an engineering student, is one of …
July 4, 2018 The Disintegration of the Chief Rabbinate by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin From the very beginning of the establishment of our Jewish state, it certainly was assumed that the institution of the Chief Rabbinate would have control over the religious services provided by the state: marriage and divorce, kashrut and conversion, at the very …
“The Miracle of Mazal Dadon” by Pnina Omer – 10/6/2018 Mazal Dadon received her freedom recently from her recalcitrant husband, Yaron Atias, who for many years had refused to grant her a“get,” or Jewish writ of divorce. The entire country celebrated this happy event that touched all of our hearts. How sad that an entire country …
WOMEN ASSUME THE MANTLE OF LEADERSHIP Women are increasingly being heard and taking on fresh roles in observant Judaism, particularly in Israel – naturally bringing Orthodoxy toward a renaissance. BY SHOSHANNA KEATS-JASKOLL – JUNE 7, 2018 Women’s voices have been generally missing from the great Jewish discussion that takes part within our communities. For millennia, the …
‘RELIGIOUS COERCION VS. RELIGIOUS CONVICTION’ BY RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN – JANUARY 29, 2018 By inspiring love, we must attempt to express the glories of Shabbat. And love means accepting with love even those who decide to reject the laws of Shabbat. ‘And the entire nation responded together and said, ‘Everything the Lord has spoken we shall …
“Shabbat is Meaningful to Everyone” by Rabbanit Devorah Evron Jerusalem Post Op-Ed – 18/1/2018 Over the last few months, Shabbat has evolved from being the Day of Rest to being the focal point of a fiery verbal boxing match. The concept of Shabbat in the Israeli public sphere has remained in the headlines, beginning with the …
Jerusalem Post | Magazine – 11/10/2017 In an article in this weekend’s Jerusalem Post Magazine (11/10/2017), Pnina Omer, Director of Yad La’isha: The Monica Dennis Goldberg Legal Aid Center and Hotline, reminds readers that, “The spirit of the Halacha is to do everything possible to release agunot from their chains and be lenient in the laws relating …
“There is no Comparison” by Pnina Omer Jerusalem Post Op-Ed – 12/7/2017 Earlier this week, Kan – the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation – aired a segment called “Trapped Men,” which exposed the issue of men being denied a get (a religious divorce). The report showed that female recalcitrance is a widespread yet silenced phenomenon, because women’s …
