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Thoughts to Ponder

Thoughts to Ponder is a weekly invitation to think dangerously and question passionately. Drawing on the Torah portion, classical Jewish sources, philosophy, and the crises of contemporary life, Rabbi Cardozo challenges religious complacency and spiritual comfort. These essays are written for readers who seek a Judaism that disturbs, questions, and ultimately deepens the human encounter with God and responsibility.

  • The Joy of Saying “I am Sorry” – The Portuguese Spanish Selichot

    In Jewish Thought and Philosophy and Liturgy & Ritual

    To be given the opportunity to do teshuvah is an enormous privilege. It is a joy to be able to say I am sorry. This is the ultimate expression of religious optimism. Judaism teaches man that there is no karma that traps him, and no original sin that stands in his way. Man is free to re-engage with God and his fellow man. Whatever obstacles there may be, all that is required is the will to change his ways and the effort to work hard at it.

  • Surround Yourself with Cleanliness

    In Parashat HaShavua and Parashat Shoftim

    Jewish law contains a far-reaching codex for personal and environmental cleanliness that would seem novel and forward-thinking to many twenty-first century environmentalists. Unfortunately, these laws do not seem to be of great concern within many orthodox communities today. By implementing the Torah’s laws in this realm, orthodox communities will make a tremendous kiddush Hashem, which is in fact the purpose of being a Jew.

  • Achieving Unity While Remaining Divided

    In Contemporary Issues

    Paradoxically, the only way to create unity among different denominations is for all to recognize that they are fundamentally divided. We need to stop asking for compromise on the very beliefs that are matters of personal conscience and therefore categorical.

  • The Jerusalem Parade: Homosexuality

    In Contemporary Issues

    All discussions of why certain marriages or sexual relationships are forbidden are doomed to fail! No human reasoning is able to explain them in any consistent way. It is for this reason that religious thinkers should distance themselves from giving primary reasons for these prohibitions.

  • Parashat VaEtchanan: The Revelation is Taking Place Today!

    In Parashat HaShavua

    When a person learns Torah as a religious experience and hears its revelation, the gap of several thousand years—from the Revelation until now—no longer exists. Accordingly, Torah is given today

  • Tisha b’Av – Who needs the Temple?

    In The Jewish Year

    The Temple whose destruction we mourn on the 9th of Av has no inherent value. It is only a means to something that no physical object can contain. On Tish’a B’Av, we do not mourn the loss of the Temple but rather the loss of its message, which we no longer seem to grasp.

  • The Controversy Surrounding My Louis Jacobs Memorial Lecture

    In Jewish Thought and Philosophy

    Louis Jacobs is not at all as radical as some would like to believe. In fact, some ultra-Orthodox thinkers were even more radical than Rabbi Jacobs but remained completely committed to Orthodox Halacha and the belief in Torah from Heaven.

  • The Search for God: The Struggle to Achieve the Greatness of Halachic Living

    In Halacha

    We must teach Halacha as a musical symphony, in which all students see opportunities to discover their inner selves. Teachers must stand in front of their classes as a conductor stands before his orchestra and draws it out of its confinement, moving it beyond itself. They must show their students how to pull the ineffable out of the dry halacha and turn it into an encounter with God.

  • Scandalous Halachic Decisions: Ethiopians and Wine

    In Contemporary Issues and Halacha

    The ruling by the Eida HaHareidit that Ethiopian Jews are not fully Jewish is scandalous and deeply embarrassing. It disgraces Judaism and is as anti-Jewish as can be. This and many other rabbinical decisions are not part of the Judaism I converted to. I abhor them and want no part of them.

  • Parashat Chukat – The Curse of Religious Coercion

    In Parashat HaShavua and Parashat Chukat

    For the sake of later generations—who would need to know that the ways of the Torah are ways of pleasantness, of the gentle word and not the hard strike—God denied Moshe the merit of living in the land. He made it clear to all that leaders who seek to turn Israel into a holy nation by way of threat or by force may very well bring disaster to themselves and their people.

  • Parashat Korach: The Curse of Camouflaged Jealousy and the Blessing of Enjoying the Achievements of Others

    In Parashat HaShavua

    Among world leaders, governments, the academic world, and even the Jewish world, we see symptoms of Korach's conduct. And while it also happens among the average population, it is with the “mighty ones” that the consequences are much more serious."

  • Conversion: An Open Letter to Israel’s Chief Rabbis

    In Converting to Judaism and Jewish Thought and Philosophy

    The first convert and Jew, Avraham, was only asked to observe a few of the commandments, such as circumcision. An incubation period was required to allow for Judaism to develop slowly and be solidified at Sinai with the giving of the Torah. In this time frame, the great moral-religious foundations of Judaism and the conditions for creating the Jewish nation were shaped. We should allow potential converts this option to slowly work their way up to Sinai.