Joseph H. Prouser, at The Blogs

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Aug 16, 2023, 6:05 AM

Women witnesses for Jewish divorce: A major misstep

Failure to provide a divorce of unimpeachable halachic validity spells catastrophe for Jewish unity

Dec 7, 2017, 5:04 PM

More joy. Less oy.

A Muslim resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras-al-Amud was widely and enthusiastically celebrated by Jewish media outlets this fall. Ihab, a bus driver, decorated the Egged bus that he drives to look like a succah, in celebration of the joyous Jewish harvest festival....

Oct 20, 2017, 12:04 AM

Don’t wail about the Kotel … deserve it

“Avinu she-ba-shamayim, Rock and Redeemer of the People Israel: Bless the State of Israel with its promise of redemption.” My congregation offered these words of prayer and blessing on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, just as we do each and every Shabbat morning. We will...

Aug 3, 2017, 8:55 PM

To bigotry no sanction

Trump knocked 30K Boy Scouts, implying they lack the diversity, openness, and mutual respect that are their inheritance

Jul 13, 2017, 7:29 PM

Ask the question, take the action

As the Jewish community observes the doleful three weeks culminating in the fast of Tisha B’Av, we focus our attention on our long history of loss, destruction, and displacement. Tisha B’Av recalls the Babylonians’ destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians on the...

Jun 9, 2017, 12:48 AM

The US, the fate of liberty, and the fate of the USS Liberty

The Jewish world, together with supporters of the Zionist dream beyond our communal borders, find ourselves in heady times as we celebrate the fiftieth anniversaries of the liberation of Jerusalem and the Israeli victories of the 1967 Six Day War. We look ahead with grateful...

Apr 7, 2017, 12:22 AM

The seder, the four children — and a barbershop quartet

In relating the parental obligation to teach the younger generation about the Exodus, the Torah is understood to allude to four different types of children. One is analytical and so appears to be wise. One is indelicate in asking questions and so appears to be...

Mar 16, 2017, 10:53 PM

Rabbinic wisdom on the Muslim ban — 120 years later

The Immigration Act of 1891 banned polygamists from entering the United States. It was passed during the administration of President Benjamin Harrison. Later, when he was president, Theodore Roosevelt expanded that ban to include all who believed in polygamy as a religious principle, whether or...

Feb 16, 2017, 4:26 PM

‘Lest we swallow each other alive’ — Remembering Rev. Peter Marshall

More than 2,500 years ago, the Prophet Jeremiah warned, “Seek the peace and well-being of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its peace and well-being you will find your peace and well-being”...

Jan 5, 2017, 7:18 PM

The truth Hertz

Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz is remembered by many as the late, great chief rabbi of the United Kingdom, serving in that high office from 1913 to 1946, leading a vast Jewish community through both world wars. He previously had served congregations in Syracuse, N.Y., Manhattan,...

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About Me

Joseph H. Prouser is rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey (Franklin Lakes, NJ) and a practicing Mesader Gittin. A former member of the Joint Bet Din of the Conservative Movement and the Rabbinical Assembly Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, he currently serves as editor of Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism.