Gidon Rothstein

Apply for a Blog

Jun 30, 2019, 8:42 PM

The Incoherent Element in R. Daniel Landes’ Ordination of a Gay Man

Rabbi Daniel Landes’ recent op-ed (“We Orthodox Jews Desperately Need Gay Rabbis”) about his decision to ordain an openly gay man as an Orthodox rabbi is bad for both rabbis and the LGBTQ+ community. We hold this position for...

Apr 18, 2016, 5:20 PM

Story into law: some Halachic impact of the story of the Exodus

Shabbat HaGadol Drasha, 5776 The Shabbat haGadol drasha originated in a time when the rabbi would use that occasion to review many of the laws of Pesach. Since we today have other ways to access those laws, the drasha affords...

Apr 13, 2016, 6:02 PM

My Two-Shalom Problem and Reliving the Exodus

I write books. I don’t sell books, which is an important distinction. But I write them, and enough people make enough complimentary noises about them that I convince myself it’s worth writing the next one, to start the cycle...

Sep 20, 2015, 8:01 PM

Five Rashis, Ha’azinu: Finding Our Way to Goodness

A project in memory of Baruch Leib HaKohen b. Mordechai Yidel ve-Dobba Chaya. Most of this parsha is the song Hashem told Moshe to teach the Jewish people, to place in their mouths. Few of us remember that it’s one...

Sep 16, 2015, 11:08 PM

Five Rashis, Vayelech: Passing the Leadership to Yehoshua

A project in memory of Baruch Leib HaKohen b. Mordechai Yidel ve-Dobba Chaya Held Back By Hashem, Not Age Parashat Vayelech is the shortest in the Torah, so these Rashis might come in a narrower range than usual. 31;2 speaks of...

Sep 11, 2015, 6:35 PM

Would We Accept a Sinner’s Teshuvah? Why Should Hashem Accept Ours?

The past several years have seen more than a few scandals in the Jewish community, involving ordinary people, lay leaders, ordinary rabbanim, and even, to our chagrin, top-level Torah scholars. These scandals run the gamut from the financial to...

Sep 6, 2015, 3:16 PM

Five Rashis, Nitzavim: The Insistence on Good Choices

A project in memory of Baruch Leib HaKohen b. Mordechai Yidel ve-Dobba Chaya. Becoming Fellow Travelers With Moshe’s life rapidly nearing its end, he is wrapping up last-minute business. One piece of that is bringing the Jewish people to re-enter and...

Aug 31, 2015, 3:59 PM

Five Rashis, Ki Tavo: Building Our Service of Hashem From Inside Out

A project in memory of Baruch Leib HaKohen b. Mordechai Yidel ve-Dobba Chaya. Parashat Ki Tavo opens with the ceremony for bringing bikkurim, first fruits, from the seven types of produce for which Israel is well-known. That is where the...

Aug 24, 2015, 9:42 PM

Five Rashis, Ki Tetsei: Wrongs and Their Consequences

Giving in to Weakness The opening vignette of the parsha, Jews going to war, seeing attractive women and taking them, raises many moral issues. Rashi to 21;11, on the words ולקחת לך לאשה, says the Torah addressed our baser instincts,...

Aug 20, 2015, 9:32 PM

5 Elul: R. Moshe Feinstein on Fertility, Three Practical Applications of Trust in Hashem

This is a series that usually appears on Torah Musings, but is for this one week appearing here, on The Times of Israel. Last week (28 Av, here), we saw a responsum in which R. Moshe Feinstein’s understanding of...

Load more

About Me

Rabbi Dr. Gidon Rothstein has served in the community rabbinate and in educational roles at the high school and adult level. He is an author of Jewish fiction and non-fiction, most recently "We're Missing the Point: What's Wrong with the Orthodox Jewish Community and How to Fix It." He lives in Bronx, NY with his wife and three children.