Virtual Talmud

When I was studying in Yeshiva, I heard the following sad but telling story about one of the great American rabbis of the twentieth century: The rabbi took a plane trip across the country with his extended family. After boarding his flight and getting himself settled into his seat, he turned to the person sitting…

Let me start by saying that I think that evolutionary science provides the best description we have of how life came to exist in its present form, that intelligent design is junk science (at best), and that Judge Jones made exactly the right decision in the Dover School Board case. I.D., which is just creationism…

Thank God U.S. District Court Judge John Jones III ruled that intelligent design (ID) is not science and therefore has no place in the classroom. Thank God that the concerned parents in Dover, PA, had the courage to fight their school board on this issue. Our constitutional guarantees of separation of church and state and…

Either we have all become prophets or everyone has forgotten the third commandment. Based on the Rev. Pat Robertson and Israel’s Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s prediction rate, I am inclined to think the latter. Repeatedly throughout the Bible we are told, Do not use God’s name in vain. Yet, for religious people today, God has become…

Why is it so tempting to blame others for their own misfortunes? The Jews, at least, had the good grace to acknowledge their own shortcomings when they said, “M’pnei chata’einu galinu m’artzeinu” – “Because of our sins we were banished from our country.” These days, there seems a lot less interest in using the question…

Why is it that those who seek to make peace don’t get to fulfill their vision? Pat Robertson would answer that peace at the cost of giving away parts of “Greater Israel” is a sin, so God struck down Yitzhak Rabin (with a little help from assassin Yigal Amir and the fundamentalist rabbis who labeled…

Over the coming weeks, much time, energy, and breathless news coverage will be devoted to divining how Samuel Alito would rule on abortion as a Supreme Court justice–a subject on which he will offer no clues if he can help it during his confirmation hearings. That’s sad, because it has made the confirmation process for…

So much surrounding the Supreme Court nomination of Samuel Alito comes down to two simple words: “life” and “choice.” Simply put, for many in Washington the question of whether he is pro-life or pro-choice is the be-all and end-all of his nomination. The extreme division that certain groups have created between these two concepts is…

Judaism is a pro-life religion. It sees all life as precious, including the potential life represented in the fetus. The stirring of life is a miracle, a gift from God. All things being equal, a fetus should be brought to term and welcomed into life. However, what happens when the fetus poses a threat to…

Mr. Klinghoffer, I just do not understand what you are trying to say. In your Forward article, you suggested that Jack Abramoff should be left alone because the money he got through illegal means was given to charity–an idea that most would find to be at best morally and Jewishly troubling. Where does it say…

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