Reclaiming the Morality of Our Torah: A Response to Rabbi Hershel Schachter

By Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz
Published on March 20, 2013

How Do We Relate to Morally Difficult Texts in the Jewish Tradition?

By Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz
Published on February 24, 2013

Opinion: How the contemporary left can reclaim its moral authority

Published on August 21, 2012

After the 1967 Six-Day War, much of the radical left in the West predicated its militant anti-Zionism on the illusory notion that the Palestinians represented a revolutionary and "progressive" vanguard that could one day mobilize the Arab masses in the cause of social revolution.

Jewish Education - Teaching Emotional Intelligence

Published on March 6, 2012

Synagogues Working to Be More Open to Gays

Published on March 13, 2009

[UPDATE] The newsletter sent out last month by Temple Israel of New Rochelle contained the usual sort of announcements, including a reminder about the synagogue’s upcoming Purim carnival, mazal tovs and condolences, and information about a social event at a local steakhouse.

Godless morality

By Brad A. Greenberg
Published on November 8, 2008

Answering Hitchens on moral superiority

By Brad A. Greenberg
Published on September 10, 2008

Al-Jazeera and the glorification of barbarity

By Judea Pearl
Published on August 21, 2008

The focus of my attention naturally turned to Al-Jazeera because, with its outreach of 50 million viewers from Morocco to the Persian Gulf, this pan-Arab satellite channel is considered the conscience and future of the Arab world.

Randy Pausch’s last lecture links morality and purpose

Published on August 13, 2008

"Brick walls are there for a reason," wrote the late Dr. Randy Pausch, author of the best-selling book, "The Last Lecture."

Puppet score tugs at Elfman’s heart strings

By Carvin Knowles
Published on September 20, 2007

"My strongest link to my Jewish background is musical," he said. "I found myself drawn to Russian and Eastern European musical roots."

Is God in our DNA?

By Brad A. Greenberg
Published on September 18, 2007

Truth and Consequences

By David A. Harris
Published on August 30, 2007

From my experience in tackling difficult relationships, I believe that engagement, not avoidance, is the best strategy. In a perfect world, Armenian and Turkish historians would sit together and review the archival material, debate differences and seek a common understanding of the past.

Zealots and Sages

By Rabbi Dan Shevitz
Published on July 5, 2007

There is a scribal tradition, maintained in every Torah scroll, that testifies to the problematic nature of Pinchas' reward. "I give him my covenant of peace," God tells Moses regarding the young priest. But the word for peace, shalom, is defective. The letter vav is inscribed hollow. It is a broken letter, a broken shalom, a peace that can't endure.

What’s So Bad About Torture?

By Arnold Steinberg
Published on March 23, 2006

Suppose your child were kidnapped. She is buried alive with a limited air supply. Police arrest one of the kidnappers. Indeed, he was on a store videotape luring the child and then abducting her. Witnesses saw him put the child in a car. His handwriting is on the ransom note. He admits he knows where she is but remains stubbornly unresponsive.

Class Notes - National Nachas for Shalhevet

By Julie G Fax
Published on March 9, 2006

Five brief pieces, on the following: Shalhevet School's recent winning streak, Camp Ramah's new solar panels, a five-day summer workshop that shows teachers how to use studying the holocaust to teach morality, an opportunity to serve abroad as part of the "Jewish Peace Corps," and a recent Prejudice Awareness Summit at the University of Judaism.

Unilateral Withdrawal

By Larry Derfner
Published on February 17, 2005

I, along with what the polls say is 60 percent of Israelis -- and maybe even Ariel Sharon, too -- trust Mahmoud Abbas' good intentions. More than that, I'm impressed by what he's done on the ground -- by prevailing on Hamas and the other terrorist groups to "cool down" the violence a week after he took office, and reading them the riot act after their rockets started flying again a day after the hopeful Sharm el-Sheik summit.

A Question of Morality

By H. David Nahai
Published on November 18, 2004

We have been bombarded with the phrase "moral values" ever since it was announced that 22 percent of voters cited it as the single most important consideration in the 2004 election. Not Iraq, not terrorism, not the economy.

If the Situation Were Reversed

By Gideon Levy
Published on July 29, 2004

What would happen if a Palestinian terrorist were to detonate a bomb at the entrance to an apartment building in Israel and cause the death of an elderly man in a wheelchair, who would later be found buried under the rubble of the building? The country would be profoundly shocked.

Your Letters

Published on April 22, 2004

Your letters

Prefer Your Teen to Smoke or to Cheat?

By Dennis Prager
Published on July 24, 2003

Decades of lecturing around America and of speaking with parents on my radio show have led me to an incredible conclusion: More American parents would be upset with their teenage children if they smoked a cigarette than if they cheated on a test.

Love in the Afterlife

By Tom Tugend
Published on February 13, 2003

Neil Simon has always laced his plays with aspects of his own life and, at age 75, he takes on mortality -- specifically the mortality of a creative writer -- in "Rose and Walsh."

Educator Sees Needfor Teaching Morals

By Sharon Schatz Rosenthal
Published on February 6, 2003

Something vital is missing from public and day school curriculums, says Dr. Hanan Alexander, a rabbi, educator and author of "Reclaiming
Goodness: Education and the Spiritual Quest" (University of Notre Dame Press, 2001), which received the 2002 National Jewish Book Award in Education.

Don’t Win the Battle

By Rabbi Ed Feinstein
Published on September 11, 1997

A professor in seminary once asked us to find themost important section in all the Torah. We offered Creation, theShma, the Exodus, the revelation at Mount Sinai. No, he argued, it'ski teze l'milchama (Deuteronomy 21): "When you go out to war against yourenemies, and the Lord God delivers them into your power and you takesome of them captive, and you see among the captives a beautifulwoman, and you desire her, and would have her. You shall first bringher into your house, and she shall cut her hair and her nails, anddiscard her captive's garb. She shall spend a month's time in yourhouse, mourning her father and mother...and then you may come to her,and marry her, and she shall be your wife. And if not, you mustrelease her."