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Virtual Talmud

Rabbi Grossman’s distinction between actions we do because we wish to and those we do because we are commanded to is a vitally important one. Vice President Cheney famously asserted that conservation was a personal virtue–that is, a nice thing to do if you feel like but that’s really your own business. What’s so striking…

Monday night begins Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish New Year for Trees. According to Jewish tradition, God judges trees’ productivity for the coming year. Our trees are in trouble and so is our world. That should worry us every day of the year and particularly on Tu B’Shevat. This worry is mobilizing many to “go green.”…

With the writers on strike, Hollywood has moved away from distorting our social relationships to our political ones. We all know the typical Hollywood love story: boy pursues girl, girl pushes away boy, eventually girl falls for boy who by then has grown frustrated. Before girl is able to express her feeings boy moves on…

Will the scheduling of Nevada’s caucuses during Saturday Sabbath services be the “hanging chad” of the 2008 election? After all, the top candidates in both parties seem to be running neck-and-neck, so much so that every state primary election counts. And in every state, every vote counts. But not every voter will have a chance…

Again and again we heard it as the analysts scratched their heads and did their post-mortems of the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries: “Turnout is key.” In the party primaries and caucuses, when the voting is generally confined to the smaller part of the population that represents each party’s “base,” a candidate’s ability to turn…

Rabbi Stern makes an important point in advocating that the moderate Orthodox stop relegating a monopoly to the haredi over religious policy in Israel. They certainly should help Yisrael Beiteinu’s efforts to fast track conversions in Israel for the 300,000 Russian immigrants whose fate is intertwined with the Jewish State, even if they have not…

This past week the Israeli political party Yisrael Beiteinu once again tried to introduce legislation that would ease up the conversion process in Israel. The proposal, like all other such initiatives, will inevitably be shelved by the right wing religious establishment and their political proxies. Which means, roughly 300,000 Russian Jews will continue to be…

I appreciate Rabbi Grossman’s wishes for 2008 and would like to add a few of my own (in no particular order): • President Bush becomes invested enough in Mideast peace to keep pressure on the Israelis and Palestinians to talk to one another. • Kosher certifiers stop deriding the idea of Hekhsher Tzedek (a socially-conscious…

To paraphrase someone else who was called upon to make predictions, “I am not a prophet nor the daughter of a prophet” (Amos 7:14). Therefore I will not be joining those who make predictions, serious or otherwise, about what the New Year will bring. However, I would like to offer my wish list for the…

Much ado is being made out of Mike Huckabee’s, all I want to do is wish you “a Merry Christmas” TV advertisement. Huckabee’s ad seems sincere. He is an ordained minister, a devout Christian, and someone who seems to be as honest as any politician. As a Jew, I really don’t find anything all that…
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