Our reaction to the events in Pittsburgh began with mourning for the victims. From mourning we moved to the legitimate fear that comes from living in a nation where easily procured weapons of mass death terrorize people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people and—as always—Jews. ...
In the Jewish communal world, addressing systemic harassment and abuse comes with its own complications....
When hurricane Harvey devastated Southeastern Texas in late August, Rabbi Yehosua Wender was in his home waiting for the storm. Within an hour of the rain starting, the streets were flooded with two feet of water....
With the High Holidays on the horizon—and with the current political climate in mind—we asked our “Ask the Rabbis” editor to reflect on some of her favorite pieces of rabbinical wisdom....
In Barbra Streisand’s musical Yentl, Nehemiah Persoff, a World War II veteran originally from Jerusalem, plays Rebbe Mendel. Mendel secretly gives Talmud lessons to Yentl (Streisand), a young girl living in a late 19th century Polish shtetl at a time when women are barred from...
Should Jews strive to be happy? INDEPENDENT No. Jews should never strive to be happy. Happiness should not be something to strive for. It should be solidly entrenched deeply within us, born of a sense of mystery, a sense that defies reason and definition. We are here for...
When it comes to marriage & divorce, Israel is a theocracy under the control of its Orthodox Rabbinate. What can be done? ...
We ask our rabbis, "Should Jews be for or against the right to bear arms?"...
In 1997, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. But today the federal law is seeing an unlikely reincarnation. Moment asks six preeminent scholars: Can we find common ground between gay rights and religious freedom?...
INDEPENDENT: Addiction is highlighted in the Torah’s account of the Revelation at Mount Sinai, where the One Who Spoke and the World Came into Being instructed us not to get so caught up in our subjective assumptions about God that we would carve out and...