Summer Camps and the Nine Days by Nathaniel Helfgot

As the summer months progress and we are in the thick of the Nine Days, I find myself returning to ponder the dissonance that sometimes lurks below the surface of the written guidelines of the halakhic texts and how we live life in the real social constructs that we experience. I refer specifically to the entire rubric of [...]

The Brain Death Debate: A Methodological Analysis (Part 3b—Rabbi Moshe Feinstein) by Daniel Reifman

[Click on these links for Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3a] Determining death in trauma victims In our last post, we saw that Rabbi Feinstein considers the interaction between different bodily functions central to the way we determine the moment of death.  This is a more nuanced and complicated approach than that proposed by [...]

The Brain Death Debate: A Methodological Analysis (Part 3a—Rabbi Moshe Feinstein) by Daniel Reifman

[Click on these links for Part 1 and Part 2] Rabbi Moshe Feinstein was one of the very few contemporary poskim with sufficient stature to potentially resolve the contemporary halakhic dispute over brainstem death.  That Rabbi Feinstein’s position on this issue has become the subject of intense debate is particularly unfortunate.  It is also highly uncharacteristic: [...]

From Our Archives: In Defense of Brain Death and Halakhic Organ Donation – Rabbi Dr. Edward Reichman

In the recent report  written by the head of the RCA halakhic committee on the halakhic issues of brain death, the article emphasizes that contemporary medicine now recognizes that even after “brain death” has occurred, there continues to be much neurological activity.  The report then utilizes this information to claim that the medical criterion established by [...]

Procreation, Women, and Birth Control: Reflections on the Meshech Chochmah by Aryeh Klapper

 Genesis 1:27-28 G-d created the human in His image In His image He created him Male and female He created them G-d blessed them G-d said to them: Be fruitful and multiply; fill the land and subdue it; dominate the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens, and every wild thing that [...]

Homosexuality and Halakha: In Tradition and Beyond

In light of the public discussion surrounding the recent Statement of Principles on homosexuality and Judaism, penned by one of our regular contributors, Text & Texture is making available some of the Tradition articles that have been written about homosexuality and halakha.  Additionally, we include below an essay by Rabbi Michael J. Broyde and Rabbi Shlomo [...]

Our Writers Respond: The Component Issues of a Traditional Jewish Womanhood by Gidon Rothstein

You know that moment in a conversation where you begin to suspect that the two of you see the world so differently, it might not even be possible to have an intelligible exchange? I do, very well; I once, years ago, deeply offended a congregant and friend when, in the middle of a discussion of [...]

New Tradition

Tradition Vol. 42, No. 4, Winter 2009 Editor’s Note: Fear of Flesh and Blood by Shalom Carmy Jewish Philanthropy – Whither? by Aharon Lichtenstein Is Courage a Jewish Value by Yitzchak Blau From the Pages of Tradition: Benzion Katz: Mrs. Baba Bathra by Shnayer Z. Leiman Survey of Recent Halakhic Periodical Literature: Medical and Cosmetic [...]

The Legacy of Polemics: Microphones on Shabbat, Metzitzah, and the Rabbah Ordination by Shlomo Brody

  I personally have no gripes with polemics playing a role in socio-legal discourse within the Jewish community.  I think it is inevitable, given the sociological reality of Jewish history, and occasionally it is appropriate, given larger religious goals. 1 I do believe, however, that one has to be very careful with the terminology used, and [...]

Women and the Splitting of Modern Orthodoxy: Confronting the Underlying Issues by Gidon Rothstein

My friend and colleague R. Nati Helfgot’s recent discussion of women’s leadership in communal settings is marked by his usual and admirable judiciousness, his concern to be respectful to all sides in a debate, and his hope to move our community forward as productively and peacefully as possible.  With all the respect and admiration I [...]

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