In Defense of Natural Morality: A Note on the Case of Sedom Not a day goes by when I don't recall the impact of my youthful exposure to Mori ve-Rabbi Rav Aharon Lichtenstein zt"l. Rav Aharon and Rav Amital both expended significant energies exploring the concept of natural morality. I am therefore reposting this brief piece ahead of
Ben Shapiro at YU I am proud of Yeshiva University for so many reasons, but was disappointed by Ben Shapiro's recent talk at YU. Below is a letter I submitted this morning to The Commentator, YU's student newspaper. As a proud alumnus, musmach, and past Kollel Elyon Fellow at Yeshiva
Rebbe Without Walls: The Slonimer Sensation The Lehrhaus [http://www.thelehrhaus.com/] is an incredibly important project with the potential to help revitalize engaged, sophisticated discourse in the Modern Orthodox community and beyond. Here [http://www.thelehrhaus.com/scholarship/rebbe-without-walls]'s my first offering - on the immense popularity of the Slonimer Rebbe in our
Between the Akeida and Al Qaida In today's poisonous post-election climate, can we educate the next generation to hew passionately to their political views without descending into attacks on others? In today's global religious environment, are we forced to choose between fundamentalism and halfhearted commitment? I was honored yesterday to speak on
3 Post-Election Thoughts Post-Election Thought #1 There is certainly a place for polling and surveys. Still, this election has exposed the limitations of Big Data. We live in an era in which we like to tell ourselves that we have devised oracles that can predict the future. But the present cycle has demonstrated
The Secret Sauce of Inspiring Educators Learning to Teach When my peers and I were considering our career options, many of our teachers emphasized that while there are many fine reasons to enter Jewish education, studying Torah is not one of them. Education is an all-consuming avocation that leaves little time for Torah study beyond one&
Becoming an Ish Itti: Yom Kippur 5777 The entire nation, it seemed, waited anxiously to see if the mission had been carried out successfully. What did they wait for? Not to see whether the Navy Seals had returned safely from their top-secret operation, or whether the diplomats had staved off the looming threat of imminent nuclear war,
Dare to be Desperate: Rosh Hashanah Day 2, 5777 Slightly expanded version of my sermon. 7:52am. Most days, I walk into school like a whirling dervish, throwing my stuff down in an attempt to get our school tefilla underway by 7:55. As I get things started and begin putting on my tallit and tefilin, any number of
A Walk in a Cemetery: Rosh Hashanah Day 1, 5777 Slightly expanded version of my sermon. On April 20, 2012 the UK Telegraph ran an article entitled "Want to Cheer Yourself Up? Go for a Walk in a Cemetery." The piece cited a remarkable study. In 2008, researchers observed people who were either passing through a cemetery or
The Ryan Lochte Within C-. That was the grade a crisis management expert gave Ryan Lochte on his recent round of apologies. And that was pretty generous. Lochte has received almost universally negative reviews for how he handled the situation in Rio from beginning to end. How could he have thought, so many have
The Mandate of Universal Jewish Education: Yehoshua Ben Gamla's Legacy Given the prominence of the mitzvah of Torah study in the current parshiot, I'd like to share a perspective on the critical issue of universal Jewish education. The Talmud (Bava Batra 21a) records the classic story of Yehoshua Ben Gamla, founder of universal formal Jewish education: For Rav
Digging Beneath the Surface: The "Deeper Meaning" of Tu B'av What is Tu B'av all about? While many Divrei Torah focus exclusively on the unusual courtship ritual described in the Mishnah and the six (!) explanations offered for the holiday in the Gemara, a deeper understanding emerges from viewing Tu B'av in its wider context in Masekhet
Why This (Saturday) Night Is Different Than All Other Nights Many have noted the numerous connections between the Seder night and Tisha B'av. For instance, according to the classic "Atbash," the first night of Pesach and Tisha B'av always fall out on the same day of the week. Others suggest that the egg of
Remembering Rabbi Maurice Lamm: From Strength Comes Sweetness About seven years ago I was a newly-minted rabbi, having recently begun serving as spiritual leader of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Synagogue. I saw Rabbi Maurice Lamm at a family occasion - Tova, his great-niece, and I had married a few years prior - and he quickly began
On Brexit and Passionate Moderation Commentators throughout the West have struggled to account for Britain's Brexit vote. Perhaps the most insightful have pointed to the politics of identity-by-rejection. In a sarcastic yet insightful piece, Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum put it this way: Last week, the leader of the U.K. Independence Party,
Who Will Remember Memorial Day? A 2006 survey [http://www.gallup.com/poll/22957/Memorial-Day-Allows-Time-Relaxation-Family.aspx] ahead of Memorial Day found that a mere 7% of Americans were planning to attend a Memorial Day observance of any kind. Unfortunately, this pretty much sums up the challenges facing Americans, as we (hopefully) struggle with the dispiriting
Remembering HaRav Aharon Lichtenstein zt"l on his First Yahrtzeit In honor of HaRav Lichtenstein zt"l's first yahrtzeit, here [https://docs.google.com/a/koheletyeshiva.org/file/d/0BxTqBWS5aRe3RmxyTFpXTTgtNHM/edit] is a recording of the moving program we held last year on May 20 in the Kohelet Beit Midrash. May Rav Aharon's life and
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Returns to Kohelet Last night the Kohelet Yeshiva Beit Midrash was once again honored to host Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks for an extraordinary lecture on the subject of his new book, "Not in God's Name: Confronting Religious Violence." Last year I enjoyed the privilege of engaging in a public
A Note on Religious Doubt With Shabbat Zakhor approaching, and in light of the classic Hasidic identification of Amalek with religious doubt (Amalek and safek are both 240 in gematria), I’ve been giving some thought recently to the theme of religious doubt. Having recently reread Dr. Lamm’s classic essay “Faith and Doubt [http:
Schism and the Calendar Traditionally considered to have been established by fourth-century sage Hillel II, the contemporary Jewish calendar provides for an additional month of Adar seven times in nineteen years. (This year is the nineteenth.) It is worth recalling, though, that in earlier times there was no set calendar. Instead, a beit din,
Torah Study on Shabbat: A Match Made in Heaven Parshat Vayakhel opens by informing us that Moshe Rabbeinu gathered the entire community and conveyed to them the laws of Shabbat. Noting that no other parsha in the Torah with the term vayakhel, and implicitly attempting to account for the link between this phrase and the day of rest, the
The Mystery of the Ketoret The Incense is among the most mysterious of Jewish rituals. In Parshat Tetzaveh, for instance, the Golden Altar, upon which the Incense is offered, is listed not with the Copper Altar but some three chapters later. Why is the Ketoret’s altar seemingly misplaced? The Incense’s wider role is
Toward a Storytelling Renewal in Our Community My wife and I recently matched a personal best, seeing two movies in a single week. I wrote about my impressions of the first, Spotlight, here [https://www.tzvisinensky.com/2015/12/29/spotlight-earning-the-trust-of-our-community/]. A few days later we saw Brooklyn, the moving tale of a female Irish immigrant who
Honoring One’s Father and Mother: The Infinitude of a Commandment Kibbud av va’em appears to be distinctive among the Ten Commandments, which appear for the first time in Parshat Yitro. First, its placement in between the mitzvot bein adam la-makom (commandments concerning man and his Maker) and bein adam la-chaveiro (commandments concerning man and his fellow man) is noteworthy,
Were We Worthy of Redemption? Were we worthy of redemption from Egypt? The obvious response is yes. After all, why else did God take us out? Moreover, a classic series of midrashic teachings support this notion. Two such texts (Shemot Rabba 1:28, Vayikra Rabba 32:5) teach that the Jews were redeemed because they
