What we can learn from the RCA and the URJ

By Amram Altzman November 15, 2015

On Oct. 30, mainstream Orthodox leaders in the Rabbinical Council of America confirmed once again that women who receive the same training and jobs as men still are not — and never will be — equal to men. Six days later, the Union for Reform Judaism passed a landmark resolution on the inclusion of transgender individuals…

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Improving Israel Comes at a Cost: $5

By Derek M. Kwait January 29, 2015

Are you a Jewish student? Are you fed up with the state of American Zionism? Have $5? Good. Click here before April 30, pay the $5, then vote to change things. I can’t explain the process, the necessity, or the candidates better than J.J.Goldberg did in two articles in the Forward, so I won’t try….

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What Stake Should American Jews Have in Israeli Affairs?

By Amram Altzman June 2, 2014

  Israel has always been always at least somewhat present in my life. Though I have only visited once, as a Jew who was raised in a Jewish educational system, Zionism came part-and-parcel with my religious education. In school, I learned Modern Hebrew as a second language and was exposed to Israeli culture and food….

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Modern Orthodoxy’s Identity Crisis

By Amram Altzman March 3, 2014

Modern Orthodoxy has a problem and a blessing: it is the belief that one can be both Modern and Orthodox. The problem is that when one changes, the other must, too, for if we are truly to be both Modern and Orthodox, then as modern world changes, our Orthodoxy must change, too. And that must…

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Uniting Against the Rabbinate: A Call for Pluralism in American Jewry

By Amram Altzman January 20, 2014

  Just a few days after my blog post from last week ran, the Israeli rabbinate decided that it would, indeed, accept Rabbi Avi Weiss’ testimony as legitimate for people he vouched for as Jewish. This is a step in the right direction for the Israeli rabbinate, which had previously called Rabbi Weiss’ validity into…

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Personalizing the Ramifications of the Israeli Rabbinate

By Amram Altzman January 13, 2014

It’s old news that the Israeli rabbinate rejects those who are not Orthodox, especially in regards to immigration or marriage. What was recently revealed, however, was exactly how this process of rejection or acceptance happens, in light of the Israeli Rabbinate’s recently calling Rabbi Avi Weiss’ status as an Orthodox rabbi into question. This was…

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Buy Me an E-Reader, I’ll Figure Out the Halacha Later

By jagross November 14, 2010

The fact that I am shomer shabbat has been the major obstacle to my buying a kindle or nook. However, that all changed recently. My sister, Adina, is applying to a few business schools (Shout out!). Because she works in the corporate world, she is the go-to sibling to check cover letters and résumés. But…

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The Reading List: Jewish Students Have Civil Rights

By Ben Sales November 4, 2010

Jewish students are now protected under a law banning racial or ethnic harassment on campus. But will this serve to lessen anti-Semitism, or will it gag speech critical of Israel? [Forward] In the Israeli secular university students’ protests over  stipends for Haredi yeshiva students, the country’s chief rabbi sides with… the secular students. [JTA] [JPost] Not all…

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