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Jun 5, 2026, 7:19 PM

Love, marriage, and sex

My father, Rabbi Dr. Nathan Drazin (1906-1976), published his book Marriage Made in Heaven in 1958. The book, which provides a frank discussion on sex and marriage from an Orthodox Jewish perspective, was originally released by Abelard-Schuman in London...

May 26, 2026, 1:41 PM

The Selective Fluidity of Identity

Some identities are liberated. Others remain externally policed. Image © Ivan Bassov, 2026. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Why Some Identities Become Subjective While Others Remain Objective In my previous essay, Demystifying Gender, I explored how the word gender gradually evolved from a grammatical category into something far larger and more abstract. Originally, gender referred primarily to classification in...

May 12, 2026, 11:32 AM

Flatbush Girl and the Problem with Neo-Conservative Orthodoxy

Orthodoxy is not merely a Brooklyn neighbourhood of sheitels and babkas — it is a system of obligation (Josh Wilburne, Unsplash).

A righteous cause does not sanctify every tactic. Agunos deserve justice, but Orthodox women’s bodies should not become weapons in someone else’s revolution.

Reuven Chaim Klein

Mar 15, 2026, 2:11 AM

Advice from the Kidneys – kilayot, atzeh, and tuchot

The kidneys are vital organs that essentially act as the body's filtration system, ensuring that toxins are removed from the blood. They are thus responsible for filtering waste products and other excess substances from the blood, which are then...

Reuven Chaim Klein

Nov 29, 2025, 10:20 PM

Survivor Series – klitah, pleitah, and seridah

In a standard Chumash, at the end of every Parashah there is a comment from the Masoretes that tells the reader how many verses were in that particular Parashah and provides a mnemonic for easily memorizing that number. In general, these mnemonics consists of...

Nov 28, 2025, 9:32 AM

Counting seven clean days: Female-halachic dissonance

Jozef Israëls: A Jewish wedding (1903), Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

One woman wrote to a rabbi in 2021: “It’s terribly frustrating that I feel powerful attraction to my husband specifically in the week of the 7 clean days, with the height of desire occurring on mikveh night, and the...

Reuven Chaim Klein

Nov 16, 2025, 5:49 AM

Exploring Love – ahavah, r’chim, chibah, and agav (Part 1 of 2)

The verb for “loving” appears in the Bible for the first time when Hashem commands Abraham to offer up his son “that he loves” (Gen. 22:2) — Isaac. Afterwards, Isaac himself becomes the subject of ahavah, as the Bible reports...

Moshe-Mordechai van Zuiden

Sep 30, 2025, 12:49 AM

Heterosexual men and Yom Kippur: critical questions

You asked for it I appreciate the deep questions I received on the previous post. 1. In a modern, democratic world, no one should be punished for their sexual choices or practices. We should be free to love who we want. You...

Moshe-Mordechai van Zuiden

Sep 28, 2025, 11:07 PM

Heterosexual men and Yom Kippur

Literally, the Torah forbids Straight men situational homosexuality For those open to rethinking interpretations since the Sixties, I combined traditional Orthodox Judaism and my own research to suggest that Leviticus 18:22 is aimed at heterosexual men choosing intercourse with a...

Moshe-Mordechai van Zuiden

Aug 27, 2025, 1:46 AM

Are young people now more LGBTQIA+ than before?

Let's get clear on what we know and what we don't know yet Recent US polls suggest that more young people call themselves not (just) Straight, ranging from 23% to 30%! An important question is why. This rate is substantially higher...

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