Open Search form

Allen S. Maller

Apply for a Blog

Jul 8, 2018, 3:50 PM

Erdogan ignores Qur’an and purges more workers ahead of his swearing-in

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for 15 years, has now dismissed another 18,000 state workers, including soldiers, police and academics. A TV channel and another three newspapers have also been closed. Since the failed coup attempt two...

Jul 1, 2018, 8:41 AM

Pre 9 Av political advice from our sages

During the three weeks between the Fast of Tamuz and Tisha B’Av, the topic of the unrestrained hatred of other Jews (sinat khinam) should be carefully studied and talked about especially in Israel; for our sages say that both...

Jun 25, 2018, 11:03 PM

Respond to balloon arson with 9 Av wisdom

Hamas plans to vastly expand its balloon arson attacks on Israeli crops. Before the IDF does something about it, during the weeks preceding 9Av, the Israel's political and military strategy planners should study the Talmud: Gittin 55b. “Because of...

Jun 23, 2018, 12:06 AM

Ultra-orthodox rabbis who distrust Jews

Everyone who works in the Israeli Rabbinate bureaucracy should be required to study the Talmud's sad story of Timna. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 99b) condemns those who push potential converts away by relating that Isaac and Jacob pushed away Timna...

May 20, 2018, 7:53 AM

Why you have many dates for Shavuot

Kabbalists and Hassidim brought encountering God's love through a personal experience into the center of Shavuot. They taught that only on this day does the hidden Ayn Sof descend through ten Divine dimensions of Sefirot into our mundane reality,...

May 12, 2018, 2:44 AM

Did Mother Miriam write Torah Prior to Sinai?

The Torah asserts that Miriam was a prophet (Exodus 15:20); and Numbers 12:2 quotes Miriam and Aaron saying, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” We should take these statements seriously;...

May 2, 2018, 11:47 PM

Sex offender Haraidi rabbi honored at Lag B’Omer festival

Each year hundreds of thousands of Jewish Israelis flock to Shimon Bar Yohai’s tomb, the second-most visited holy site after the Western Wall; but this year the usual joy will be dampened by outrage because Rabbi Eliezer Berland, who...

Apr 30, 2018, 7:48 PM

Mother’s Day for non-Jewish mothers and grandmothers

Most holidays commemorate ancient historical events or celebrate significant religious themes. Mother’s Day is a relatively new (since 1914) American holiday honoring motherhood. It is a good occasion for Jews to honor not only their physical mothers, but also...

Apr 19, 2018, 7:20 AM

Do mass extinctions negate God’s designs?

We all know that Dinosaurs disappeared with a bang; wiped out by a large meteorite impact on the Earth 66 million years ago. But their origins have been less understood. In a new study, scientists show that the key expansion...

Apr 18, 2018, 5:00 AM

Warm Muslin welcome for Jews

In the wake of the warm Muslim welcome that greeted many Ultra-Orthodox Rabbis who made aliyah in the 18th and 19th centuries, some Hasidic masters reflected on the positive experience that local Jews had with their Muslim neighbors; according...

Load more

About Me

Rabbi Allen S Maller has published over 150 articles on Jewish values in popular magazines; Jewish, Muslim and Christian. He has also published original research in scholarly journals (Jewish Social Studies, Journal of Dharmah and Journal of Ecumenical Studies). Rabbi Maller is the author of "Tikunay Nefashot," a spiritually meaningful High Holy Day Machzor, two books of children's short stories, and a popular account of Jewish Mysticism entitled, "God, Sex and Kabbalah."