My Neighbor's Faith: The Rabbi And The Christian Cab Driver
Sun, 20 May 2012 05:13:47 -0700

As he pulled out of the airport, the cabdriver, a middle-aged man with a scraggly beard, long greasy blond hair and wearing a red checkered shirt, cut off at the sleeves, was checking me out in the rearview mirror. He was actually using his rearview ...

Orthodox conversions in Israel down dramatically, study shows
Mon, 21 May 2012 13:16:54 -0700

Both demographic changes and bureaucratic hurdles have contributed to this change, said Rabbi Seth Farber, director of ITIM: Resources and Advocacy for Jewish Life. The ITIM study, released on the eve of Shavuot, in which Jewish tradition celebrates ...

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: The Lockerbie Bombing Hall of Shame
Mon, 21 May 2012 01:45:28 -0700

I have a video of the time I confronted the contractors working on Kaddafi's home, after they cut down my trees and removed my fence. City official Peter Abballe, who was in charge of Englewood's Department of Building and Code Enforcement and was ...

NJ rabbi's Shavuot sermon eulogizes Kurt Sax of Chula Vista
Thu, 17 May 2012 08:27:32 -0700

By Rabbi Jeffrey Lipschultz WILDWOOD, New Jersey Memorial Day is approaching and as many take out their BBQ pits and contemplate a three-day weekend and the beginning of summer we Jews begin to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.

This Day, May 22, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin
Mon, 21 May 2012 14:16:19 -0700

1760(7th of Sivan, 5520): Rabbi Israel (Yisroel) ben Eliezer (rby yshrl bn ly zrbetter known as the Baal Shem Tov, founder of Chasidic Judaism, passed away. [Hopefully this brief entry will spur readers to find out more about a person who had such an ...

Bloomberg vs. the Rabbis
Mon, 14 May 2012 06:49:44 -0700

Mayor Bloomberg has just joined a chorus of Democratic politicians asserting that persons who suspect misbehavior should go straight to the police rather than their rabbis . The mayor, according to the New York Times, wants any abuse allegations to be ...

Faith in public discourse
Sat, 19 May 2012 21:06:58 -0700

On Tuesday night, I'll get to join in a bit of the fun as Rabbi David Saperstein and I hold a public conversation about the impact of religion in political life at Temple Beth Jacob in Concord. We decided to include time for participants to talk with ...

Political, social turmoil worries Hungary's Jews
Fri, 18 May 2012 22:45:43 -0700

By ruth ellen gruber/JTA The danger is about Hungarian democracy, not about anti-Semitism, Rabbi Istvan Darvas tells JTA. budapest - The debate over anti-Semitism in Hungary has sharpened since the anti-Israel, anti-Jewish and anti-Roma (Gypsy) ...

Should one recite Hallel on Jerusalem Day?
Thu, 17 May 2012 07:42:37 -0700

Yet as Rabbi Shmuel Katz has documented, a combination of factors, including late planning by the government and the influence of non-Zionist religious scholars, prevented the Chief Rabbinate from issuing clear- cut instructions to Zionist synagogues ...

Rabbi Lipsker Inspires Floridian Baal Teshuvas
Fri, 04 May 2012 05:55:21 -0700

Rabbi Berel Lipskier, a long time Chozer of the Rebbe and current Mashpia in Beis Medrash Chovevei Torah of Crown Heights visited Yehshiva Torah Ohr in North Miami Beach, Florida last night (Thursday) On shabbos zochor 5718, as a bochor, ...

Werdiger Responds to Rav Blau's Accusations
Tue, 08 May 2012 14:18:54 -0700

Rav Chanoch Werdiger, founder of the Tov Party, responded to accusations from Rav Mordechai Blau that he abused public funding and the fact that Werdiger, who represents the working chareidim simply is acting contrary to the way of gedolei yisrael ...

Area faith groups work together on community-service projects
Sun, 20 May 2012 21:16:37 -0700

Some raked debris, some cut the grass and others removed fallen sticks. Though the volunteers came from different faiths, different races and different churches, they worked as a team to beautify the mostly overgrown burial ground.

The Lockerbie Bombing Hall of Shame
Mon, 21 May 2012 09:28:29 -0700

I have a video of the time I confronted the contractors working on Kaddafi's home, after they cut down my trees and removed my fence. City official Peter Abballe, who was in charge of Englewood's Department of Building and Code Enforcement and was ...

The Chabad Rabbi And The Guilt
Sun, 29 Apr 2012 14:13:45 -0700

Phillip Weiss is known for his extreme left-wing opinions on Israel, and about the "Palestinian Problem" in particular, his writings are considered by many to be self-hating Last week, he spent Shabbos with Chabad Rabbi Shmully Hecht of the Eliezer ...

Barbra Streisand has brains to go with her amazing artistry and appeal
Tue, 22 May 2012 08:20:09 -0700

In 1975, for "A Star Is Born," she cut her nails to learn how to play a guitar, which her character would do on camera. The scenes of her playing wound up on the cutting room floor, but Streisand's lessons lead to her composing the music for the film's ...

Friends Remember Jonathan Hoffman: 'Like a Brother to Me'
Mon, 21 May 2012 22:37:20 -0700

Taylor Onderko, a junior at West Bloomfield High, remembered that Hoffman gladly let her cut his hair, at age 6, after refusing to go to a barber. The two were friends through family connections, Onderko said. "As long as I can remember, ...

Vidal Sassoon, Streetfighter
Thu, 10 May 2012 10:12:31 -0700

By Ben Cohen|May 10, 2012 12:38 PM|7comments 13 Nov 1964 Clothes designer Mary Quant, one of the leading lights of the British fashion scene in the 1960 s, having her hair cut by another fashion icon, hairdresser Vidal Sassoon.

Rabbi draws on natural inspiration
Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:01:34 -0700

Framed by a bright blue sky and with the shimmering ripples of Creve Coeur Lake reflecting in her mirrored sunglasses as she unshoulders a guitar case, Jamie Korngold doesn't really cut the figure of a traditional rabbi . But that's OK since some of her ...

The Greatest Challenge Facing The Orthodox Jewish Community
Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:03:19 -0700

Rabbi Steven Weil, Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union, recently spoke compellingly on this issue to members of the Harvard Jewish community at Harvard Hillel. He presented the stark reality that a couple earning a salary of $2000 living ...

The Jewish tradition of Upshernish
Fri, 11 May 2012 11:10:25 -0700

The Upshernish is an ancient Jewish tradition wherein a boy's hair is cut for the first time on his third birthday. It marks the start of his formal introduction to Jewish education. (Doug Duran/Staff) Rabbi Raleigh Resnick cuts his 3-year old son ...