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Sarah Segal-Katz

Jul 3, 2026, 3:08 PM

One year after the ‘Daughters of Zelophehad’ ruling: A marathon, not a sprint

The Supreme Court of Israel building
Photo: Lael Klein / Gluya Magazine

Today, the 18th of Tammuz, marks exactly one year since the ruling in the petition over women's right to sit the Chief Rabbinate's ordination exams (the "Yoreh Yoreh" track) on the same terms as men. The presiding justice, Noam...

Jun 30, 2026, 7:38 PM

Breaking: Major Update on Red Heifer Program and National Training Push

A red heifer calf born last month in the hills of the Galilee has drawn renewed attention to a coordinated national effort to restore ritual purity after two thousand years. Discovered by a team member of the National Red...

Jun 30, 2026, 11:20 AM

Lunar Shield Bearers: Halakhic Warfare in Rabbinic Journals

Rabbi Kasher’s Man on the Moon, first published in Noam, reprinted as separate booklet.

Buzz Aldrin photographed by Neil Armstrong, NASA photo ID AS11-40-5903, https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=AS11&roll=40&frame=5903, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AS11-40-5903_-_Buzz_Aldrin_by_Neil_Armstrong_(full_frame).jpg

In the 1969-1970 issue of the journal Noam: A Forum for the Clarification of Contemporary Halakhic Problems, Rabbi Benzion Firer (1914-1988) published a responsum addressing the question of whether Jewish law was applicable on the Moon. Firer reached a...

Sam Lehman-Wilzig

Jun 26, 2026, 7:05 AM

“Modern Orthodoxy” Moving into the Modern Age

Some time ago I attended a 3-day concert festival in Eilat. Classical music orchestra, male and female singers (opera and Israeli), classical and jazz pianists, even a professional whistler! The audience consisted of secular and modern-Orthodox alike. Remember the old...

Jun 26, 2026, 7:02 AM

I am with you—declares GOD

"I am with you - declares GOD"

The government has quietly called for training two hundred thousand men in the procedures of Temple service. One hundred fifty thousand have already enrolled. This comes as Israel continues daily operations against Hamas terrorists and internal debates over priorities...

Shamai Leibowitz

Jun 25, 2026, 10:54 PM

From Czar to Civil Rights

For centuries, Jews took the Mishnah's instruction literally: "Pray for the stability of the government..." (Pirkei Avot 3:2) Across Europe, communities recited a special prayer for the ruling monarch, Ha-Noten Teshuah ("He Who grants salvation to kings..."). Originating in 11th-century Germany, its purpose was survival:...

Jun 25, 2026, 10:09 PM

A Story Not About Jews

It is a story all about the Jews, yet the Jews play no role in it. It contains some of the most common phrases in Jewish life, yet they are not the words of any Jew. This week's Parasha...

Naomi Marmon Grumet

Jun 25, 2026, 1:56 PM

The mikveh experience is holy, not a political bargaining chip

A mikveh attendant supervises a woman immersing. (Heidi Levine, via The Eden Center)

When Rabbi David Yosef urges women to humiliate other women, he contravenes Jewish law and opens the door to undermining his own authority

Sarah Segal-Katz

Jun 25, 2026, 12:49 PM

No place for shaming at the mikveh

Screenshot from the footage of Chief Rabbi David Yosef, aired on Channel 12 by reporter Eli Hirschmann

Sadly, the chief rabbi, Rabbi David Yosef, has once again spoken in a way that wounds women. Only last week he chose menacing language toward those seeking to sit for the rabbinate examinations (myself among them). He sought to...

Jun 25, 2026, 3:40 AM

Dark Energy and Divine Light: A Hasidic Framework for the Structure of Reality.

The Hidden Light of Darkness: Dark Energy, Chasidut, and Human Struggle. I am going to present, in English, a free translation of a Hasidic discourse delivered by Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, in 1953. When you read (or...

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