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Andy Blumenthal

May 21, 2023, 6:28 AM

Some Shabbos Chuckles

People never fail to amaze me in both their potential as well as in their idiosyncrasies. But the last number of weeks have really brought home that while we Jews share many commonalities, there are also quite a few...

Apr 20, 2023, 4:32 PM

Book review: Two new books on medicine and halacha

The COVID-19 pandemic is approaching the three-and-a-half-year mark. It changed our lives significantly, and its long-term effects are still being worked out. It upended Jewish religious life to a degree not seen in many generations. The medical field was...

Joseph C. Kaplan

Mar 31, 2022, 9:57 PM

The Choices We Make

I recently attended a terrific series of classes in my biweekly Books of the Prophets course at the Beit Midrash of Teaneck, marvelously taught by Rabbi Hayyim Angel. We’re studying the book of Judges, and spent several hours learning...

Feb 17, 2022, 10:33 PM

Forging the Future of Worship

At the end of last month, an opinion writer for the New York Times, wrote on “Why Churches Should Drop their Online Services.” Thankfully, Tish Harrison Warren, a priest in the Anglican Church in North America, wasn’t speaking for...

Barbara Pfeffer Billauer

Dec 24, 2021, 10:26 AM

When Rabbis Tread Where They Should Fear to Go

It’s not unusual for Rabbis to pontificate on current events, comingling their political perspective with their Torah views– ostensibly trying to make their Torah teachings more timely and meaningful. When they invoke science or law, Rabbis without specialized training...

Nov 17, 2021, 2:55 PM

Has the minyan muscle in my community atrophied?

(Jewish Week illustration/Photo by Itamar Grinberg for the Israeli Ministry of Tourism)

I miss how the in-person morning gathering gave sacred significance to the details of the mundane, and I miss knowing that my physical presence belonged there

Joseph C. Kaplan

Oct 29, 2021, 9:50 AM

The Change We Should Seek

In August, 1952, when I was 5 years old, my parents moved our family from 156th Street and the Grand Concourse – in the shadow of Yankee Stadium! – to Far Rockaway in faraway Queens. I lived there until...

Oct 20, 2021, 10:44 PM

Bring Back the Noise

For years, we had a problem at morning minyan. There is a day school in the synagogue building, which is a great blessing. The kids arrive around the time of the minyan, which is less of a blessing. People...

Oct 4, 2021, 9:04 PM

When Rabbis Bless Congress

The Constitution guarantees separation of religion and state, so what is God doing in Congress? Howard Mortman answers that question and more in his fascinating and entertaining compendium of Jewish prayers on Capitol Hill, When Rabbis Bless Congress. Congress opens...

Laura Ben-David

Sep 24, 2021, 9:58 AM

PHOTO ESSAY: A priestly blessing

Birkat Kohanim, Sukkot 2021. [Laura Ben-David]

When you don't like traffic or crowds or early mornings, rushing to the Western Wall for Sukkot prayers doesn't sound like a good way to spend your vacation...

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