Jewneric: A New Platform for the Jewish Voice Archives: Halacha
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1 July 2008
The Other Leather Bondage
I, once again, feel I may be going into territory not as family friendly as this site is intended. If your sensibilities are easily offended (or if you think I really have gone “too far”), feel free to express yourself in comments.
Some teachers have one liners that live on outside the classroom. One of my [...]
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1 July 2008
“Raid Unsettles Kosher Beliefs” WSJ article 7/1/08
For those of you who don’t get the Wall Street Journal, here is an outside view of the Agriprocessors matzav, and what some Jews are doing about it. (Its also a plug for my fellow “36 under 36” recipient Shmuly Yanklowitz, co-founder of Uri L’Tzedek.)
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“Raid Unsettles Kosher Beliefs”
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2 June 2008
Torah Judaism, Homosexuality, and Gay Marriage
The Torah does not like gays.
For some Jews, this is not a difficult challenge to overcome. The Torah may have been inspired by God, but it was written by men. Its intolerance toward homosexuals can be written off as the outdated bigotry of a bygone age.
For others, it is not a challenge at all. The [...]
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22 May 2008
The Touchy Subject
When tackling this issue, all sorts of fun puns come to mind. One needs to be cautious in approach, steady on arrival and only once a comfortable calm has been established can one thrust forward with the heat of the issue. Even then it is not a simple task to ensure everyone’s happiness [...]
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13 May 2008
Sports, Religion & The Catskills: Part 3
In the past few articles, I’ve postulated that people who follow pro-sports do so to try to be part of a team. I’ve also postulated that people holding on to old Jewish culture (such as Yiddish, the Catskills or gefilte fish) as an essence of Judaism are living in the past. If anything [...]
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17 April 2008
Davening Man Removed from Plane
On Wednesday night, an Orthodox man boarded a United Airlines flight from JFK to San Francisco. Before the flight took off, he went to the back of plane to daven, probably Mincha (Maariv could have waited). The crew asked him to sit for takeoff, but since he was in the middle of the [...]
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9 April 2008
The Geek Guide to Kosher Machines
I just stumbled on a Wired article from November of 2004 which profiles Jonah Ottensoser, an engineer for the Star-K. “A retired helicopter engineer who is himself Orthodox, Ottensoser teaches Sabbath law to technical teams at companies like General Electric, Electrolux, and Viking. His job: to guide them in building electronic brains and mechanical guts [...]
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5 April 2008
The Incredible Story of “Natan Levy”/AKA Ted Riley Floyd
In another proof that real life outdoes film in the sensationalism department, the ultra-orthodox community of Lakewood, NJ was shocked to learn that a member of their community had been exposed as a non-Jewish identity thief from Kansas. The young man, whom they had come to know as “Natan Levy,” was actually Ted Riley Floyd [...]
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25 March 2008
Brain Death in Jewish Law: Setting the Record Straight
In the March 25, 2008 article “MK: Hundreds of organ transplants may lose funding,” the Jerusalem Post got their research on Brain Death in Halacha wrong. They misquoted the opinion of Rav Moshe Feinstein. Here’s what they said:
… (Rav) Elyashiv has also ruled in the past that brain death does not constitute clinical [...]
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20 March 2008
Rabbis’ New Role: Wedding Crashers
While those in the Internet reading community may not be aware, Brooklyn rabbis have recently banned marriage. I went undercover to find the story, and I now present my first piece of investigative journalism.
Rabbis Ban Marriage: Cite Promiscuity as Reason
Yet Another Jewneric Exclusive by staff writer, David Gertler
A group of 178 of Ultra-Orthodox rabbis [...]