Homosexuality
By Yael Valier
Dear TT-ers, Recently, I have been wondering if we can used proven halachic methodologies to ease the suffering of homosexuals in Orthodoxy.
Contemporary Issues
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Gilad Shalit: Justice and Injustice
Thank God, Gilad Shalit is finally home. He has transformed Israel into a different country: more holy and united, but also more pained. Pained for those who lost their loved ones in many wars and terrorist attacks and whose murderers have now been freed in a deal to return Gilad to his parents. For more […]
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The Curse of Religious Boredom
In Contemporary Issues and Education
Young people are developing a fresh approach to what Judaism is really all about. They are keenly aware that one cannot inherit Judaism but only discover it on one’s own.
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Rabbi Mordechai Elon and the Challenge of Teshuva
I will teach transgressors Your ways
that sinners may return to You
[Tehilim 51: 15]
Despite everything, I have great hopes for Rabbi Elon and believe he will deliver. I do not know what really happened, what is true and what is not. Surely something awful seems to have taken place. Nevertheless, though he may have seriously erred, caused people suffering, and damaged the honor of Judaism, and though he deserves to take responsibility and pay for his actions, I believe that it is in his power to teach us an important lesson. -
God and the Earthquake
In memory of the victims in
This essay was published in the
10.6.08 after the earthquake in
It has become very difficult to go to synagogue lately. Praying to God has become a real challenge. Watching
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Gilad Shalit
According to Israeli media, Gilad Shalit is soon to be released from his long and inhuman captivity in the hands of Hamas. This gang of murderers has managed to terrorize all of us using one young Jewish boy.
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The Courage of Judge Goldstone
Judge Goldstone must be a frustrated man. If not, he really has a problem. By now it has become abundantly clear that the Goldstone Report is not merely filled with inaccuracies. It is replete with procedural and substantive injustices and is a terrible disgrace for all those who believe in integrity, the supremacy of law and moral standards. It is the ultimate blunder for a respectable judge of international standing. Tens of articles penned by famous legislators and men of intellectual integrity, together with experts in other fields of jurisprudence and military knowledge, have demonstrated that this report is not worth the paper on which it is written. Judge Goldstone not only deviated from the truth, playing into the hands of Israel's worst enemies, but he willingly contributed to an international climate which gives credibility to the worst forms of terrorism and in which legitimate countries can no longer defend themselves. In fact, this report lays the ground for great human suffering, far beyond the borders of
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Sderot and Human Indifference
Sderot, which, for years has been plagued by missiles fired on its population has lately been bombarded by no less than 50 deadly Kassam rockets a day. This means that its citizens are living under severe war conditions in which there is no day without ongoing attacks. Every few minutes they are forced to run from their homes and classrooms to (often non-existent) places of proper shelter. Its thousands of children live under constant fear, with severe traumatic consequences and some younger ones have not experienced a normal day since the moment they were born. The tragic failure of Israel's political leadership to properly deal with this, whether by not harshly tackling Hamas or by not providing the Sderot population with sufficient and effective shelters, only increases the overall anxiety of this city's heroic population.
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The Handwriting is on the Wall – Part 2
Whilst contemplating the increasing likelihood that, in the not too distant future, the State of Israel will be governed by a chareidi led government, we need to realize that several developments could possibly take place which would confront the State with a most dangerous situation and an inherent paradox. Strangely enough, yet fully comprehensible, it will get a stronger Jewish identity but, simultaneously, discover that it no longer has the power to defend itself. At the same time, the State will be confronted with a crisis in its universities, especially in the departments of humanities, with far reaching consequences. This will be followed by a backlash which will cause the dwindling secular community to turn its back on Judaism. While
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The Handwriting is on the Wall – Part 1
A Chareidi Jewish State!
The hand writing is on the wall. In a matter of years, the State of Israel will be led by chareidi (2) political parties. There will be a chareidi Prime Minister and the majority of the members of the Government will be of chareidi affiliation. This will have enormous consequences for the Jewish People at large. Either it will become one of the greatest success stories in modern Jewish history, or it will ruin the Jewish State entirely. It will either pull the Jewish people out of its severe and far-reaching quandaries, enabling a much brighter Jewish future, or it will cause a disaster which will actually destroy the Jewish State and create unprecedented havoc for all Jews throughout the world.
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The Gay Parade and other Prohibitions
In Contemporary Issues and Halacha
When discussing matters related to the ethical or religious foundation of sexual behavior, people tend to have severe differences of opinion. While up until the second half of the 20th century a more conservative approach was still prevailing, a radical change occurred in the second half of the last century. Well established norms were suddenly challenged, and often replaced by radical approaches which demanded greater "liberty" and "broadmindedness." This provoked a major confrontation between the conservatives and those who claimed that they were "modern-minded."
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Toward a Solution
Israel's dilemma in the wake of the withdrawal from Gaza
In Contemporary Issues, Israel & Zionism and Parashat Ha'azinu
In Parashat Ha’azinu, the Torah warns of the severe consequences that the people of Israel will suffer if they do not live up to their religious and moral mission. However, it's possible that these verses also prove that what is now happening to the Jewish people and to the State of Israel is not the result of random forces or political turmoil. They prove as clearly as can be that God is in charge and that His providence is at work through its very apparent absence.