The Jewish Press newspaper has a bi-weekly feature in which questions are posed to a panel of rabbis, including Rabbi Marc Angel. Here are some of Rabbi Angel's recent replies.
Oliver Sacks (1933–2015) was dubbed by the New York Times as “the poet laureate of medicine.” His many years as a neurologist brought him into close contact with many human beings with severe disorders—and he seemed to learn from each of them. To him, they were not “cases” but real people, human beings whose lives had been seriously impaired, who still had something to teach.
Tisha B’Av is a day for fasting, prayer and introspection. It is a prod to national memory. It is a clarion call for a wiser, more humane and happier future. It is a challenge to overcome the pernicious sin of sinat hinam, hating to see the “hen” in our fellow human beings. It is a time for tears - and a time to move beyond tears.
At what point does charisma become dangerous? In a community (and a wider world) where an elusive quality called “spirituality” is constantly sought as representing the “authentic” in the religious quest, how can the individual, or the community, or the responsible leader, distinguish the teacher with integrity from the predator?
The book of Eicha (Lamentations) is Jeremiah's eyewitness response to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the accompanying tragedies that befell the Jewish People.In this article, Rabbi Hayyim Angel elucidates the meaning of this poignant biblical book.
These are the kind of people whose melodies sound old, but are really as new as the morning sun. May our people be blessed to find their special melodies and may we never become so afraid of each other that we fail to sing and share our special songs.
How does the importance of personal character, the ethical quality of the individual, compare as between a secular judge - say a United States federal judge or a state court judge - and a religious authority, specifically a rabbinic leader or decisor?
If we rely entirely on “listening,” we sometimes come to a dead end. If we also incorporate “seeing,” we learn to internalize blessings and curses as personal opportunities and challenges in our relationship with God. How we deal with blessings and curses is an indication of who we really are.
The Torah requires us to seek mishpat tsedek, righteous judgment. This is best attained if we are aware of the factors that can impact on the clarity of our judgment—stress, tiredness, informational cascades…and more. We must strive for a justice…that is just, fair and righteous.
Devarim Rabba places Isaiah alongside Moses as the greatest of the prophets (2:4). Isaiah has a central standing among the prophets of Israel and it is noteworthy that the most common epithet for God that Isaiah uses is K’dosh Yisrael “The Holy One of Israel” (Is 1:4). According to Isaiah and most of the other classical prophets, holiness is articulated in terms of social justice and political ethics.