In mid-August, after complaints from local residents, a priest in Tilberg, the Netherlands, was fined several thousand dollars for ringing his church bells just after 7:00 in the morning.

Likewise in mid-August, synagogues around the world – many of them at just about that same time of morning…

An odd Rosh Hashana custom, duly recorded in the Talmud and halachic codes, is the lavishing of puns on holiday foods.

Most Jews know that on the first night of the new Jewish year, it is customary to eat a piece of apple dipped in honey, to symbolize…

He ascended the steps to the bimah, the platform where the Torah is read, with the strangely hurried movements of someone who would rather be traveling the other way.

This middle-aged fellow, apparently something of a stranger to a shul, had just…

In an unintentionally amusing video being e-mailed around, a large-boned, jowly man with a droopy mustache and hair parted down the middle sits at a desk and reveals a secret scam that Jews have been levying on unsuspecting Gentiles for years. Behind him hang an American flag and…

In the early 90s, when I served as a teacher and principal of the boys’ division of a yeshiva high school in Providence, Rhode Island, I once called the local school board to arrange a board-sponsored driver’s education class for a group of male students, and one for…

Conservative Judaism has taken a historic step by opening a door to the ordination of gay men and lesbians and to same-sex commitment ceremonies. In line with Conservative Judaism’s most cherished values, this decision reflects both a reasoned approach toward halachah and respect for ever-evolving Conservative beliefs and…

Law committee stepped outside halachic framework

The Conservative movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards last week validated three responsa, or teshuvot, on the general subject of homosexuality.

In fact, the primary technical issue was the Jewish legal status…

In a forthcoming book, "Final Exam: A Surgeon’s Reflections on Mortality," Dr. Pauline W. Chen writes about the many operations she performed on brain-dead patients for the purpose of procuring, or "harvesting," their organs for transplantation. "They all," she writes, "seemed remarkably alive."

Listening to critics of the Partial-Birth Abortion Act of 2003, one might conclude that the law, which was ruled unconstitutional by several courts whose rulings are now under appeal before the United States Supreme Court, 1) is erroneously named, 2) lacks an exception to protect the life of…

Responses to an essay say much to a writer. Sometimes they reveal flaws in the essayist’s assumptions or reasoning, provide a different perspective or are otherwise enlightening. Other times they reveal something more about the responders.

Back in May, I wrote an…

Intended so or not, Israel’s actions of late have echoed the biblical Jacob’s. As noted by the commentary Rashi, quoting the Midrash, when the progenitor of the Jewish people prepared to meet his estranged brother Esav for the first time since receiving (to Esav’s outrage) their father’s blessing,…

Their usual haunt is Times Square but this time the threatening threesome had set up shop — a makeshift stage and an impressive speaker system — near the Staten Island Ferry terminal in Manhattan, where I embark on my commute home each day.  I was surprised to see that…

My 13-year-old son Menachem is my valued chavruta, or study-partner; he has a keen and creative mind and I hope he will one day become a true talmid chochom, or religious scholar.  We study Talmud together every evening and Sabbath; Menachem's mornings at yeshiva are also filled with the…

Among those opposing the — shelved for now but sure to return — constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman is an interfaith umbrella organization.  "Clergy for Fairness" includes an assortment of groups, some affiliated with various Christian denominations, others with the Sikh…

The threat of nuclear weapons is once again a part of the American consciousness. Terrorist groups are seeking to acquire unsecured weapons and mercurial nations like Iran and North Korea want to join the nuclear club. Military experts warn of the possibility of a nuclear strike on an American…

Back on March 12, a paean to "the dignity of atheism" appeared on The New York Times op-ed page.  It was penned by celebrated philosopher Slavoj Zizek who, had he consulted the same periodical's obituary page a mere three days earlier, would have come face to image with the…

I made a quick trip the other day to my home town, Baltimore, to crash a party.

It was a celebration hosted by my brother, a rebbe, or "Talmud/ethics/philosophy teacher and counselor" in Ner Israel Rabbinical College's high school division.  After many years' effort, he was marking his completion…

This year's Passover celebration was punctuated by the characteristically barbaric Palestinian attack on a Tel Aviv eatery that killed nine and wounded dozens.  The bombing hung like a putrid cloud over Jews everywhere.  But it was also likely at the fore of the minds of many who listened attentively…

The notion that the phrase "documentary film" implies a balanced, or even accurate, production is quickly exploded by reflecting on the fact that the category includes things like "Birth of a Nation" (which extolled the Ku Klux Klan) and "Triumph of the Will" (which paid homage to the Third…

A curious Midrash holds an idea worth bringing to the Seder.

"Midrash," although redefined of late by some to mean a fanciful, personal take on a Biblical account, in truth refers to a body of ancient traditions that for generations was transmitted only orally but later put into…