It is rare for me to publicly recommend a book, but I had the honor of welcoming my dear friend Sina Kahen’s new book on Bereshit into my library and I cannot recommend it enough! Below, please find my words which were printed in the beginning of the book, as well as a free excerpt […]
Category: Sepharadic Philosophy
“Men of faith have vanished – those who come with the strength of their good deeds, those strong enough to stand up to any breach and repel harsh decrees”(- Piyut for Selichot, Author Unkown) Today, the world lost a tremendous Torah sholar, Rabbi Dr. Yosef (José) Faur, of blessed memory. I have spent the last […]
(This article initially appeared as a Facebook post on our official page. For those among us who hate the truth, I beg of you: please don’t read this. Just keep moving on.) The Trigger Question How would you feel if a good friend, a seemingly religious Jew – wears a Kippah and Tzitzit, prays every day, […]
“My friends, this is where Judaism stands today. This is how the rabbinic establishment makes decisions regarding who is “acceptable” and who is “not”. This is how some opinions are championed, while others are not just rejected but are deemed entirely invalid. Whoever is more violent – prevails!” – Rabbi Yonatan Halevy, Rabbinic Violence Part 1 […]
The Jewish community has long had a fear of Halachah. No, I am not talking about those Jewish communities who are honest about their indifference or non-absolute loyalty to Halachah. Rather, I am referring to the community who constantly prides itself as being “Halachically observant” and relishes at any opportunity to judge and critique all […]
I was recently contacted by an individual who responded to my numerous requests from my viewers to do so if they have anything they wish to discuss. Being that this email is about a very important topic, and that it was asked with such tremendous Derech Eretz, I felt obligated to respond. The email has […]
Join our Facebook forum by clicking here! Haircuts and Shaving During Sefirat HaOmer Question: Can I shave/get a haircut on Rosh Chodesh? Answer: Maran in the Shulchan Aruch calls the custom to do so an “incorrect” one. But one would first have to establish the severity of the custom not to shave in the first place. In the entire […]
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“Woe is me, my mother, that you ever bore me— A man of conflict and strife with all the land!” – Yirmiyahu (15:10) “If I am forced to be a man of conflict with the whole world because of the leaning towards truth that is deep in my soul – which [which causes me to […]
I once had an extremely unsettling conversation that left its marks on me until this very day. [I wish to note the following disclaimer: as disdainful as some of these sentiments may sound, they did not come from a malicious place, but from a place of having been programmed as such by their respective society. […]
Squelched. Repressed. Trampled. Unknown. Those are the words that come to mind when I think of Sepharadic Judaism in the 21st century, especially outside of Israel. But more about that later, perhaps even in a different article. I have spent the last few years in silence, just trying to take in the (online) Jewish scene, […]