When you attend synagogue, do you usually sit in the same seat? Even in synagogues where there is no assigned seating, do you find that you and almost everyone else ends up in their usual places? Why?
Rabbi Dr. Benjamin Elton presents three pillars basic to the outlook of an Inclusive Orthodox
Rabbi. They are a route to combining openness with integrity.
Book Launch: The Grand Worldview of Rab Uziel will happen on Tuesday, February 17, 7pm at Shearith Israel, New York.
The spring learning semester with Rabbi Hayyim Angel is just getting started!
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
—Albert Einstein
“Pyramids, cathedrals, and rockets exist not because of geometric theories of structures or thermodynamics, but because they were first a picture—literally a vision in the minds of those who built them.”
—Historian Eugene Ferguson
For the achievement of a moderate and observant next Jewish generation, there will need to be a synthesis of all the best qualities and approaches of like-minded approaches, from Modern Orthodox to Sephardic and beyond, creating a Jewish lifestyle that is neither extremely stringent or oppressive nor exceedingly indifferent to religious observance. I hope our religious leaders are up to the task.
On Wednesday night January 14, 2026, a group of Board members of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals met with a group of Board members of the Peace Islands Institute, a Turkish Muslim organization. Rabbi Jospeph Potasnik, Executive Director of the New York Board of Rabbis, also participated in this gathering. The mentor and spiritual guide of Peace Islands Institute was the late Fethullah Gulen, a remarkable Muslim thinker who fostered respectful relations among all human beings.
In 1966, the Nobel Prize for literature was awarded to S. Y. Agnon. This was a major event for the Jewish world at large and for Israel in particular. Agnon was the first Israeli to win a Nobel in any field, and he remains the only Hebrew-language author ever to have received the Nobel Prize in literature. He died February 17, 1970 at age 82.
The core of Jewish liturgy traces back to the early rabbinic period. Over the centuries, Sephardim and Ashkenazim developed different nuances in their prayer liturgies. It is valuable to learn about the differences that emerged, to see how rabbinic interpretations and cultures shaped the religious experiences underlying prayer.
Tseniut is not simply a system of prevention from sin. Rather, it encompasses a positive philosophy relating to the nature of human beings. While acknowledging the power of human sexuality, tseniut teaches that human beings are more than mere sexual beings.