Menachem Mendel

Please spread the word about this one-day conference on Patrilineal Descent in a Pluralistic Community.  Information about the event can be found here. Patrilineal Descent in a Pluralistic Community

Posted on February 1st, 2012 under Public Events. Comments: None

David Ellenson and Daniel Gordis will give a lecture about their soon to be released book, Pledges of Jewish Allegiance: Conversion, Law, and Policymaking in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Orthodox Responsa , on January 19, 2012 at the Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning at Temple Emanu-El, One East 65th Street, New York, NY.

Posted on December 21st, 2011 under Conversion, Jewish Law, Public Events. Comments Off

Last night I went to a panel discussion with Rabbis David Bigman and Chaim Rapoport on Values and Halakhah. You can see some of my immediate reactions in my Twitter feed. Yeshivat Chovevei Torah should be thanked for both organizing this thought-provoking discussion and uploading the videos so quickly to Youtube. The videos can be [...]

Posted on December 8th, 2011 under Jewish Law, Jewish-Gentile Relations, Public Events. Comments: 2

A number of months ago a conference on the book Torat ha-Melekh that was scheduled to take place at Haifa University was cancelled. There is a similar conference scheduled to take place next week, Dec. 12, at Hebrew Univesity. Some people are trying to lobby the university to make sure that it doesn’t become a [...]

Posted on December 6th, 2011 under Academia, Conferences, Jewish Law, Jewish-Gentile Relations, Public Events. Comments Off

Beit Morasha and the Musaf Shabbat of Makor Rishon are sponsoring an evening dedicated to volume 27 of the journal Akdamot. It will be at Beit Morasha in Jerusalem on Dec. 12, 2011. The title of the evening is: ההלכה: בין קודש לחול. Details can be found here.

Posted on December 6th, 2011 under Jewish Law, Musaf Shabbat, Public Events. Comments Off

The Jewish Law Association 17th International Conference July 30-August 2, 2012 Yale University Call for Papers: Location and schedule: The Jewish Law Association in conjunction with Yale University Program in Judaic Studies will hold the 17th International conference of the JLA at the Yale University Law School, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A., on July 30-August 2, [...]

Posted on September 24th, 2011 under Academia, Conferences, Halakhic Literature, Jewish Law, Public Events. Comments: 1

Posted on September 22nd, 2011 under Halakhic Literature, Jewish History, Jewish Law, Middle Ages, Public Events. Comments Off

Art Kibbutz NY organized a shofar flash mob in a number of locations around the world this past Sunday. The first video is a montage from a number of locations. The second video is from the flash mob near Lincoln Center in NYC. Pay special attention to the odd character blowing multiple shofarot at 2:55-3:10 [...]

Posted on September 22nd, 2011 under High Holy Days, Public Events. Comments Off

The last few weeks have not been helpful for the image of ultra-orthodox in Israel. In Beit Shemesh, some ultra-orthodox have expressed their opposition to the opening of a national-religious school for girls (they also opposed the opening of the parallel school for boys) near their neighborhood through the vile harassment of elementary school girls [...]

Posted on September 22nd, 2011 under Public Events, Religion in Israel. Comments: 2