Sometimes you can tell the correctness of someone’s actions by their critic’s statements. Here is a good one. (hat tip)
Their principal objection is based on tznius, modesty, in the understanding of Rabbi Avi Shafran, Agudah’s director of public policy.
…
“Tznius isn’t a mode of dress. It includes the idea that women are demeaned and not [...]
After reading this depressing article, what this article describes keeps sounding better and better, although employment-wise it seems to be like jumping from one pot of ice water to another.
While looking for something else, I stumbled across an interview with Dana Kaplan, author of Contemporary American Judaism: Transformation and Renewal. His summary of the book.
I argue that American Jews, like other Americans, have become much more interested in personal spirituality, and this has transformed American Judaism. Until the end of World War II, [...]
For those who are interested in some summer reading on modern Iran, Patrick Clawson has a list here.
In his short and very interesting book, History: Remembered, Recovered, Invented, the historian Bernard Lewis made an interesting comparison between the development of the historical memories of Masada for the Jews and Cyrus for the Persians.
Cyrus has been dead for two and a half millenia and was forgotten by his own people though remembered with [...]
The Jerusalem Post has an article about the extent of the Madoff debacle and its potential fallout for the Jewish community.
A partial review by The Jerusalem Post Monday revealed at least $600 million in Jewish charitable funds were wiped out by the collapse of a Wall Street investment firm, with perhaps another $1.5 [...]
A few months ago, I heard an interview on the radio with Douglas A. Blackmon, the author of Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II. In this book, Blackmon describes what was essentially the reenslavement of blacks after the Civil War in many areas [...]
From the JTA.
Sen. Barack Obama asked the debates commission to urge networks to rebroadcast the first presidential debate for Jewish viewers who observe Shabbat.
Obama (D-Il.) is set to meet Republican rival Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for their first debate on Friday night, although McCain has called for a postponement of the debate because of [...]
Many people are familiar with the book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. While I admit that I haven’t read the book, I do find the blog Freakonomics very interesting. There was a recent post which was simply fascinating, and scary in a way. The question discussed was “What [...]
R. Josh Waxman has the latest in piety requirements for airplane travelers. This gemara which I learned this morning seems to be an appropriate comment.
תלמוד בבלי מסכת סוטה דף כב עמוד ב
ת”ר, שבעה פרושין הן: פרוש שיכמי, פרוש נקפי, פרוש קיזאי, פרוש מדוכיא, פרוש מה חובתי ואעשנה, פרוש מאהבה, פרוש מיראה. פרוש שיכמי [...]
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