evolvingjew.blogspot.com
The Evolving Jew: Tisha B'Av - a deep dive into Jewish history
http://evolvingjew.blogspot.com/2015/07/a-lesson-of-tisha-bav.html
Sunday, July 26, 2015. Tisha B'Av - a deep dive into Jewish history. The traditional reason given that Hashem allowed the destruction of the second Beit Hamikdash is because of Sinat Chinam, baseless hatred. It might also be translated as pointless hatred. Mourning doesn't mean wallowing with no purpose. There are positive reasons we fast and recall tragedy, and those reasons are many. We are meant to take away lessons that strengthen us as Jews and as human beings. Will they have shaped Judaism? Old pos...
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The Evolving Jew: March 2015
http://evolvingjew.blogspot.com/2015_03_01_archive.html
Friday, March 27, 2015. Wild rice and green beans for Pesach. Kitniyot Minimization Project ™. Last year we added raw peanuts and KFP for sephardim peanut butter. The 2 additions to our household this year will be:. Disclaimer: I am not a posek. This is for informational purposes only, and to explain my own decisions. Some history and details about wild rice. Discussion - what is the earliest source for green beans as kitniyot? Tuesday, March 24, 2015. Why is Obama stooping to Bibi's level? Politics has ...
evolvingjew.blogspot.com
The Evolving Jew: June 2015
http://evolvingjew.blogspot.com/2015_06_01_archive.html
Sunday, June 28, 2015. Embracing same-sex marriage is a Torah value. I celebrated Friday's Supreme Court decision. And I agree with the logic espoused my many of my fellow Orthodox Jews that despite what the Torah says, we have no right to foist a religious definition of marriage on a secular public. That's a handy and quick argument. So the question is this: How much of our morality should be derived from the Torah? Certainly Rabbinic Judaism adjusted many things in the Torah that they were uncomfortabl...
evolvingjew.blogspot.com
The Evolving Jew: Why I'm not Open Orthodox
http://evolvingjew.blogspot.com/2015/07/why-im-not-open-orthodox.html
Monday, July 13, 2015. Why I'm not Open Orthodox. With all this talk of whether Open Orthodox is "in" or "out" of Orthodoxy, I wonder how many people actually identify as Open Orthodox, aside from the students, graduates, and hanhala of Chovevei Torah? How many of you out there actually specifically identify yourselves as Open Orthodox? Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). About me and this blog - read these posts. My contact info (Email, Facebook, Twitter). Old posts vs new posts. It’s Mad Dog! Saving th...
evolvingjew.blogspot.com
The Evolving Jew: My First Post?
http://evolvingjew.blogspot.com/2013/05/my-first-post.html
Monday, May 20, 2013. Well, not really. I've been blogging since 2007, under a variety of names. But I'm leaving my pseudo-anonymity behind. Here's what I wrote on my old blog (of the same name, but on Wordpress) today:. A new chapter for me. Still, though on the whole I feel like I’ve been respectful and non-sensationalistic, I need to think about which of my old posts I want the public to see under my own name. Exploring Torah, Jewish history, and many other topics. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom).
evolvingjew.blogspot.com
The Evolving Jew: Email, Facebook, Twitter
http://evolvingjew.blogspot.com/1995/01/email-facebook-twitter.html
Sunday, January 1, 1995. Email, Facebook, Twitter. Wwwfacebook.com/alex.philo.31. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). About me and this blog - read these posts. My contact info (Email, Facebook, Twitter). Old posts vs new posts. Haloscan comments from my old blog. It’s Mad Dog! Hirhurim - Torah Musings. Yeshiva guy says over a vort. The Purpose of Jewish Education: Transformation Through Meaning. A Letter to My Son as he Begins to Learn Gemara. ON THE FRINGE—AL TZITZIT. Ayelet - help for depression.
evolvingjew.blogspot.com
The Evolving Jew: Time to dump the "Orthodox" label?
http://evolvingjew.blogspot.com/2015/07/time-to-dump-orthodox-label.html
Thursday, July 23, 2015. Time to dump the "Orthodox" label? Let's face it. Left Wing Modern Orthodoxy, Open Orthodoxy, or whatever you want to call it, has much more in common, philosophically and in their general outlook, with heterodox movements than with right wing Orthodoxy. The only thing that binds LWMO/OO with RWO is basic halachic observance, and even the philosophical and practical approaches to halacha differ. As long as that "Orthodox" sits there in the labels that people would tend to apply t...
evolvingjew.blogspot.com
The Evolving Jew: May 2015
http://evolvingjew.blogspot.com/2015_05_01_archive.html
Thursday, May 28, 2015. Does Daas Torah make "gedolim" think they're experts in everything? I know this is from September. But I had a thought I wanted to share. 8220;I see vaccinations as the problem,” Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky told the Baltimore Jewish Times in a story published in late August. “It’s a hoax. Even the Salk [polio] vaccine is a hoax. It’s just big business.”. This is the inevitable result of taking the idea of "Da'as Torah" way too far. Tuesday, May 26, 2015. Is a long-standing site belong...
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The Evolving Jew: Who is a Jew? Anyone who chooses to be.
http://evolvingjew.blogspot.com/2015/07/who-is-jew-anyone-who-chooses-to-be.html
Tuesday, July 14, 2015. Who is a Jew? Anyone who chooses to be. The newest wrinkle in the who-is-a-jew question? UK Reform Judaism has now accepted patrilineal descent. With the acrimonious debate in recent years over the Israeli rabbinate's control over conversions and the refusal to acknowledge the Judaism of anybody who doesn't fit their narrowly defined parameters, it's time for a new approach. So if there's no rabbinate with the legal authority to decide, how does Israel define someone's Jewishness?
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The Evolving Jew: Thoughts on the Israeli Rabbanut and conversion
http://evolvingjew.blogspot.com/2015/07/thoughts-on-israeli-rabbanut-and.html
Thursday, July 9, 2015. Thoughts on the Israeli Rabbanut and conversion. Note: I just found this post in my blog's "drafts" folder, where I had composed it in 2008. It was really a collection of comments of mine from some other blog posts thrown together. I decided to edit it now to add some flow, and publish, but if it still comes across as slightly disjointed, that origin is the reason. So what's the answer? I don't think the Rabbinate in Israel needs to be abolished. Instead, it should become a st...