The View of Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt”l on the Ordination of Women by Aryeh A. Frimer

  I have been avidly following the recent discussion at the RCA Convention and on the various blogs regarding granting women semikha.  I was rather surprised, however, that in all the active give and take, there is one opinion that has not been placed center stage. I am referring to the view of Moreinu veRabbeinu [...]

Of Kabbalists and Kings: Rav Moshe Feinstein and Halakhic Pluralism by Moshe Simon-Shoshan

In this forum, Rabbi Gidon Rothstein recently presented his critique of Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo’s manifesto on contemporary pesaq. Without commenting on Rabbi Cardozo’s essay or R’ Rothstein’s response, I would rather like to focus on one small but crucial aspect of R’ Rothstein’s argument.  R’ Rothstein attacks R’ Cardozo’s use of the Talmudic concept [...]

Change and Unity: Navigating the Tension by Gidon Rothstein

It should be unarguable that as times change, our expression of the eternal principles of halachah changes as well.  When cars, computers, and other technological wonders came along, rabbis and poskim had to figure out how those appliances fit within the world of halachah. In those cases, the process was perhaps eased by the items [...]

Pshat and Drash: What Did Korach Take? by Aryeh Klapper

רש”י במדבר פרק טז :א “ויקח קרח” – פרשה זו יפה נדרשת במדרש רבי תנחומא. “ויקח קרח” – לקח את עצמו לצד אחד להיות נחלק מתוך העדה לעורר על הכהונה, וזהו שתרגם אונקלוס “ואתפלג” – נחלק משאר העדה להחזיק במחלוקת, וכן (איוב טו, יב) “מה יקחך לבך” – לוקח אותך להפליגך משאר בני אדם. דבר [...]

New Tradition

Vol. 43, No. 1,  Spring 2010 Editor’s Note: A Peshat In the Dark: Reflections on the Age of Cary Grant by Shalom Carmy Self Dealing in the Not-For-Profit Board Room: An Inquiry into a Trustee’s Multi-Faceted Halakhic Identity by A. Yehuda Warburg On Rationalizing Biblical Tum’a by Shlomo Spiro On the Methodology of Jewish Medical [...]

Women in Communal Leadership Positions: Shul Presidents by Aryeh Frimer

Below is the edited text of a lecture delivered by Rabbi Aryeh Frimer to congregants of the Tiferet Moshe Synagogue – Rabbi Jacob Berman Community Center, Rehovot, Israel on Tevet 24, 5767 – January 14, 2007. These comments are based in part on Aryeh A. Frimer, “Nashim beTafkidim Tsiburiyyim beIdan haModerni;” In “Afikei Yehudah – [...]