Articles

This past Shabbat (July 9, 2022), I had the privilege to lead the newly-created Foundations Minyan at Congregation Beth Aaron in Teaneck, New Jersey. It is an intermediate service--one that adds learning and discussion to a full Shabbat morning prayer service. Approximately 100 people were in attendance, demonstrating the deep thirst so many people have for an enhancement of their prayer and synagogue experience. The service was created by Michelle Diamond and her friends and family in memory of her late husband, Andy Diamond.

Ahab developed a self-serving and well-financed system of court prophets; he intimidated, silenced, and cancelled true prophets; and he kept righteous voices like those of Jehoshaphat adequately silent.. If Jehoshaphat had shown more resolve, perhaps the story could have turned out differently.

Although he failed during his lifetime, Jeremiah’s staggering prophetic integrity, pitted against every echelon of society, remains immortalized in Tanakh as a shining model of standing against immorality and tyranny.

The Jewish Press newspaper has a bi-weekly feature in which a group of rabbis respond to various timely questions. Rabbi Marc Angel is a regular panelist and here are his replies from recent columns.

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.

The Talmud records a poignant story relating to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE. This shocking account is generally studied on Tisha B'Av. The story isn't merely a reflection on past spiritual errors. It is a reflection on the nature of religious leadership...and the results of failed leadership.

Notwithstanding our recent history of esteemed leaders and thinkers, the weaknesses in our Orthodox world cannot be ignored if they are to be mended. A variety of factors have resulted in a collapse of any meaningful application of the word "leadership" to Modern Orthodoxy. This collapse is mostly self-induced.

 Far beyond physical nourishment, breastfeeding highlights the mother’s role in shaping a child’s religious identity. Prophets and psalmists draw further inferences through poetic usage of the imagery to describe how breastfeeding confers identity and status onto a child. Finally, a relationship with God ideally is characterized by humility and contentment, paralleled to a weaned child with its mother.

This study contrasts the legal rhetoric regarding the abortion issue. What does the plain sense of the canonical library actually prescribe? And what is the view of that version of Orthodox Judaism that bases itself on the intuitive consensus of an elite group of rabbis through a kind of "continuous revelation"?

This "Eulogy at Wounded Knee" by Rabbi Marc Angel reflects on the tragedies in society that stem from dehumanization. Hatred flourishes when we stop seeing each other as fellow human beings. Dehumanization inevitably leads to violence. Can we stop this process of erosion in our society today?