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Allen S. Maller

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 26, 2018, 4:05 PM

I’m About to Marry ‘Jewish’ – Should I Convert?

Not long ago, in 2003 to be exact, a Sex and the City episode featured an anxious Christian, Charlotte York, beginning her journey to convert to Judaism. All set to marry Harry Goldenblatt who promised his mother that he’d...

Allen S. Maller

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...

Jun 21, 2018, 6:05 PM

IDF Draft controversy renews pressure to muzzle the Supreme Court

Drafting Haredi yeshiva students is an ages-old controversy, which is reignited every few years, stirring up the political arena. The new challenge that has emerged, as was the case in the past, has come from the Supreme Court. From...

Jun 14, 2018, 10:22 AM

Now the Abayudayas. Who’s Next?

A small community of approximately 1,500 in black African Uganda have called themselves Jews and are demanding permission to make Aliyah to Israel where they can live full Jewish lives. Mainstream Judaism does not recognize them as Jewish since...

Jun 12, 2018, 8:39 AM

Guardians of the ‘Jewish’ Galaxy, the End of the Zionist Dream…

Years ago, long after I had served as a Lone Soldier in the Sinai, I learned, according to the Rabbis, I might not be Jewish. It did not matter that my father had a special tattoo on his left forearm,...

Irina Tsukerman

Jun 7, 2018, 11:21 PM

Intrafaith Dialogue for Jews: Healing the Divisions Created by History and Politics

I spent three days at the Yemenite Conference organized in conjunction with the American Sephardi Federation. The Conference was focused on Jewish Muslim relations in Yemen, but of course touched on many other issues - the Yemenite experience of...

Jun 5, 2018, 8:00 PM

Don’t America’s liberal rabbis have better things to do than snipe at Israel?

Why smearing Democrats as “Anti-Israel” wont sway voters The above headline appears in the February 4th issue of Forward, although I will not be reading the pearls of wisdom written by its author Aaron Davis a former Obama flunky now re-tooled...

Jun 5, 2018, 10:29 AM

Forget Michael Chabon. What of Rabbi Ellenson?

Dear Rabbi Ellenson, I read your op-ed in response to Michael Chabon's commencement address and was left mystified. In your article you defend your choice of Chabon as graduation speaker. You recognize that he articulated a strong position on the Israeli settlements, but...

May 27, 2018, 11:42 PM

‘I pretended to be Jewish’

Why in the world would anyone want to be Jewish? Why would anyone want to be part of the most hated people in the world, the people who are always blamed for everything? I mean, yeah, we’re smart. We stick together. But the...

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