Rabbi Mindy Avra Portnoy
I could not believe my eyes. Cherry Ames, the quintessential Midwestern Gentile, was learning Hebrew from a New York deli owner.
Spinoza and Cherry Ames
Author: Guest Blogger
Peach Fuzz Lishma (for its own sake):(“Peaching, Not Preaching”)
Rabbi Mindy Avra Portnoy
It’s a new way of living – but fortunately, as a Jew, I know a term for it – “lishma”. We are urged to study the Torah, for example, “lishma”, for its own sake, but not because we will derive some advantage – economic, professional, psychological – from doing so, but simply “for its own sake”.
Beit Shemesh, Religious Extremism, and the Dignity of Women: Some Lessons from History
by Rabbi David Ellenson
This is not the first time such conflict between sectors of the ultra-Orthodox community and the other Jewish citizens of the State of Israel has been manifest. Indeed, such clashes predate the State itself.
A Call for Civility for ALL Israeli Citizens
by Shari Eshet
This is not a new phenomenon. What is new is that now, finally, the secular population is realizing that such incidents are not only about what “they” do in their own communities, but rather a symptom of the political system that has allowed religion to become part and parcel of civil government and civil society.