Daniel Atwood, at The Blogs

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Apr 22, 2016, 6:19 AM

Possession is Nine-Tenths of Chametz

There is a concept found in tractate Baba Kama, which I have been learning this year in Yeshiva, of “גזל ולא נתייאשו הבעלים שניהם אינו יכול להקדיש. זה לפי שאינו שלו וזה לפי שאינו ברשותו.“ This statement becomes a...

Apr 2, 2015, 8:53 PM

The Message and the Medium of the Seder

One of the most interesting aspects of the Passover Seder is the tension between remembering the Exodus of the past and making the Exodus relevant to the present. The question I am struggling with this Passover is how to...

Sep 30, 2014, 10:04 PM

God Has A Name Too, You Know

Amongst American religious Jews the most common way to refer to our deity is “Hashem,” which literally translates to “The Name.” People recognize that “Hashem” is not a name itself, but rather a stand-in for another name. What is...

Aug 11, 2014, 5:39 PM

A Misheberakh (Prayer for the Sick) for Ebola

Close to 1000 people have died excruciating, painful deaths from Ebola, the deadly virus sweeping through West Africa in the largest outbreak in history. There is no cure or treatment for Ebola, except for one experimental drug that is...

Jul 21, 2014, 8:11 PM

Appreciating the Inner Spirituality of Tisha B’Av

The Three Weeks, the period between the 17th of Tammuz and Tisha B’Av, two summer fasts 3 weeks apart commemorating the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, comes at an awkward time. The period always falls between late June...

Jul 11, 2014, 6:07 PM

Kahane Ta’ah – Kahane Was Wrong

When I was in middle school I used to admire Rabbi Meir Kahane, the late extremist Jewish nationalist. I decorated my notebooks with proclamations of “Kahane Tzadak,” Kahane was correct, a mantra of Israel’s ultra right. What was he...

Jun 25, 2014, 12:50 AM

The Art of Halakha

When I was 18 I remember reading a passage in Halakhic Man by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik in which he describes the concept of the “science of Halakha.” He describes how Halakha can explain the realities of the world...

May 28, 2014, 11:20 PM

The Rabbi I Carry

In 2004-2005, when I was in 7th grade, there was a movement in American Jewry to mark the 350th anniversary of Jewish life in the United States. My Orthodox elementary school decided that they wanted to undertake a project...

May 5, 2014, 4:44 PM

My Zionism: Towards a Holistic Judaism

A few years ago, when I was studying in an Israeli yeshiva, I was getting very excited by the Yom Haatzmaut celebrations, as I usually do, singing, dancing, and praying with fervor. An American friend of mine asked me:...

Apr 14, 2014, 4:05 AM

The Seder: Halakha and Aggadah

The text used at the Seder on Passover is called the Haggadah, which roughly translates as “the story.” Though the sole Haggadah used to be a standard, traditional, commentary free Haggadah published by Maxwell House, today there are a...

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About Me

Daniel is a rabbinical student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School and resides in Washington Heights, Manhattan. He graduated from the Honors Program at Yeshiva University where he studied Psychology and Jewish Studies and served as the Managing Editor and Senior Opinions Editor of The Commentator.