On October 14, I was privileged to be a student delegate at 30 Years After’s 3rd Biennial Conference. 30 Years After is the civic and political voice of America’s Iranian Jews, the first and only organization of its kind. The…
Yiddishkayt’s Helix Project: a modern adventure into the forgotten Yiddish past
Cobblestone paths and narrowly winding streets. Freshly painted yellow buildings and crumbling courtyards boarded up in disrepair. Vilnius, summer 2012, or as the Yiddish speaking Jewish population called it prior to World War II, Vilna, the Jerusalem of Lithuania. Ten…
Reading Yeshayahu Leibowitz: a Jewish philosophy for the twenty-first century
Questions about Judaism’s place within Israeli society have been around since before the existence of the Jewish state, but there have been few coherent answers put forward. One of the most outspoken voices on this issue, as well as others…
Rabbinic Authorities Flex Muscles in Response to “Gay Orthodox Wedding”
Last week, over 100 Orthodox rabbis around the world added their signatures to a declaration condemning a recent event that the media identified as an “same-sex Orthodox wedding.” On November 6, Yeshiva University-ordained Rabbi Steven Greenberg, known to many as the…
Fear & Loathing in Washington Heights
The winds of scandal were blowing in full force across the Jewish world last week. An article printed in an online publication run by Yeshiva University students became the centre of controversy, and the school demanded that the article be removed.…
Rabbi Rupp answers a common question about Judaism and science
Question: “Rabbi, I’m a cultural Jew; I support the US-Israel relationship, and I am proud to be Jewish. But let’s be honest, I believe that by now we can rely on science as the best way to explain our world.”…
זכור פן תשכח: Commemorating Kristallnacht 73 Years Later
On the night of November 9, 1938, Jewish homes, synagogues, shops, and towns all across Nazi Germany and Austria were targeted in a brutal campaign of antisemitic orchestrated violence and vandalism. Tonight marks the 73rd anniversary of these grisly events.…