IJII

Jeremy Rosen is a graduate of Cambridge University and Mir Yeshivah Jerusalem. After a career in the Orthodox Rabbinate and Education in the UK he has retired to New York where he dabbles in both and has time to write. He blogs at www.jeremyrosen.blogspot.com.

Urim and Tumim
We live in times when the demands on intellectual conformity are increasing to the point where to challenge is to offend and to think in an unusual way is to court charges of heresy. This article is an invented midrash that presents uncertainty in a positive rather than a negative light.

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Aviva Harbater is an Orthodox Jewish activist who lives in Jerusalem. This article was originally presented in Hebrew at a Kolech Conference held in Jerusalem last year. The Responsa section of our website (jewishideas.org) has two responsa by Rabbi Yuval Cherlow on this topic, and we invite readers to read his teshuvot after reading this article. For more information on KayamaMoms, please visit their website http://www.kayamamoms.org. If you would like to support KayamaMoms, please contact Aviva at kayamamoms@gmail.com.

Together with some friends, I’ve established an organization called KayamaMoms. I’m religious, 40 years old and unmarried and I would like to have children. Like me, there are thousands of women in Israel and the rest of the world who have dreamed their entire lives about having a family but unfortunately have not yet found the right partner.

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Alan Krinsky, PhD, MPH, works full-time as a Senior Analyst in the field of healthcare quality improvement, and is also a writer. He was previously a monthly columnist for Rhode Island’s Jewish Voice & Herald, and his essays have been published on The Huffington Post, in The Providence Journal, and on the online version of The Forward. He lives in Providence, RI and currently serves as the President of Congregation Beth Sholom.

Modern Orthodox and Haredi Judaisms have traditionally been distinguished on the basis of attitudes in three areas: secular knowledge and education, Israel and Zionism, and the role of women. We can safely add a fourth theme that has gained prominence over the last two or three decades: Daas Torah---is the authority of great Rabbis limited to their expertise in Jewish law, or does it extend to other realms, such as science and politics?

It now appears that a fifth theme is emerging, and a critical one: the place of Jews in the world, or our very mission here on earth.

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Dr. Israel Drazin is the author of eighteen books, including a series of five volumes on the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, which he co-authors with Dr. Stanley M. Wagner, and a series of four books on the twelfth century philosopher Moses Maimonides, the latest being Maimonides: Reason Above All, published by Gefen Publishing House. His website is www.booksnthoughts.com.

Review
By Israel Drazin

Maimonides
Essential Teachings on Jewish Faith & Ethics
The Book of Knowledge & the Thirteen Principles of Faith
Annotated & Explained
By Rabbi Marc D. Angel, PhD
Skylight Illuminations, 2012, 177 pages

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Dr. Israel Drazin is the author of eighteen books, including a series of five volumes on the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, which he co-authors with Dr. Stanley M. Wagner, and a series of four books on the twelfth century philosopher Moses Maimonides, the latest being Maimonides: Reason Above All, published by Gefen Publishing House. His website is www.booksnthoughts.com.

The Lonely Man of Faith
By Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
Maggid Books and OU Press, 2012, 79 pages

A Review by Rabbi Israel Drazin

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (1903-1993) was a highly respected rabbi and teacher and the mentor of over 2,000 rabbis. He had a PhD from the University of Berlin, wrote his doctoral dissertation on the philosopher Hermann Cohen, and was considered a leading authority on Jewish law. He was the chief rabbi of Boston and taught the senior class at Yeshiva University for four decades. His lectures were praised for their depth and breadth.

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Marco de Falquera is a freelance writer, based in Jerusalem. This short-story appears in volume 11 of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals.

David Barukh was born January 27, 1756, the same day as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. But David Barukh never heard of Mozart, never even heard a note of Mozart’s music.

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Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz, founder and President of Uri L'Tzedek, has compiled a collection of his essays on various aspects of Jewish ethics and social justice. A graduate of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, Rabbi Yanklowitz has devoted considerable time and effort to studying and promoting an activist Orthodox Jewish agenda. Uri L'Tzedek has been at the forefront of a new generation of Orthodox idealism and social activism.

His new book is entitled "Jewish Ethics and Social Justice." It is scheduled for publication in March 2012, but can be pre-ordered at amazon.com.

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Tovli "Linnie" Simiryan lives with her husband Yosif in West Virginia. A member of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals, she appreciates the importance of creativity in Jewish religious life. This article appears in issue 11 of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals.

“There is a tear in my eye; don’t wipe it away. It’s my gift to you.”
—Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach

Dad died this past year. He was not a religious person. He didn’t criticize anyone’s choice or practice of religion, nor did he look down on folks who wanted religion to be a fixed part of their daily lives. Organized religion was simply something that did not interest him. He admired people of all faiths. He supported his children’s spiritual paths and choices without reservation. He taught and blessed his children in discreet and silent ways. He learned to recognize God in the voices of his elders as they shared their stories with him. He celebrated life as he saw fit and walked his path without regret.

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Ronda Angel Arking, a professional writer, editor, and curriculum developer, is Managing Editor of Conversations. This poem appears in issue 11 of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals.

I cannot sing this place.

I stand on ash, balance
on the platform. The audience of ten
faces, hollow and ghostly, urges—
Try not to fall into those earthen jaws,
moats of dust mixed with rain.
Looking into the deep troughs, dizzy
from time-induced nausea, I think
of that lullaby, Sleep, sleep,
one day you will have raisins and almonds.

I try to make a song here.

The air drips with inky streaks,
bus fumes and burnt hair.
Charred scrawls on the station
wall condemn me to death,
Stars of David replace Xs, cross
out hearts, point to the letters in Polish,
need no translation: Gas the Jews.
I want to scream old songs, erase
these coal marks that smudge, but do not fade.

My voice is no vandal.

One small voice: I hate
the green narrow barracks

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