Rabbis' Round Table

The Jewish community should welcome and support Magen Tzedek by buying products that carry its seal, inviting others to follow suit and encouraging its expansion to products other than foods.

By abandoning the feeling that Jews outside of Israel are in exile, we risk losing everything.

Remembering Harry Chapin, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and Debbie Friedman, their lives and their music, enables us to become better human beings.

An entire halakhic literature has developed around trees. Stealing produce from a Jew or a gentile is absolutely forbidden by the Torah, and wanton destruction of trees is prohibited by the Bible. But there are grey areas.

Could not an authentic and deep faith in God's hand in the world provide us with a more confident sense of balance in regard to other Jews?

I believe a most profound truth of human existence lies behind the Facebook phenomenon.

As a 29 year-old rabbi, I am frequently told what an important commodity I am for the Jewish community. While it is flattering, I can’t help but admit the reasoning behind such a compliment is flawed.

As the rest of the world marks International Holocaust Day, we – in Israel – face the challenge of standing up for the ‘other’.

Ahavat Yisrael is tarnished when women are needlessly discriminated against. Especially when it is by those who claim to be living Torah while they are actually subverting it.

There is much to learn from Jewish leaders who are willing to be inconvenienced and subjected to unknowing criticism in order to protect the other.

Does food conform to Jewish tradition if the people preparing it have been unfairly treated?

By failing to acknowledge modern values, spirituality and science, Haredi-Fundamentalist Judaism excludes the beliefs and practices of most 21st century Jews.

While celebrating the New Year is not ‘part of our tradition’, the concept of resolutions is far from foreign among Jews, only we call it ‘chesbon hanefesh’.

Despite the laws of physics, it is indeed possible to exist in two different places at the same time; the wandering Jew can feel completely at home in the Diaspora, and yet, long for the State of Israel.

Interesting that guilt may be one of the remaining relics of religious identity even for those Jews who are not observant.

Rav Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, wrote that where our quest for piety conflicts with innate morality, we should reexamine our religious principles, for they have almost certainly been corrupted.

I have two friends who don’t know each other: one is an Orthodox Jew and the other a Christian pastor. Each of us listens carefully to one another, to gain greater knowledge of our friend and of the Creator.

Hanukkah is about the power not simply of the human spirit but the human power to risk something of your own to ensure hope and freedom for others.

The solution to the so-called 'December Dilemma' that we, Diaspora Jews, face is appreciation and not appropriation.

A healthy society cannot condone taking civic laws into one’s own hands, and yet when it comes to the emotions a parent experiences when their child is threatened, this is not simple.

When our sages wrote that ‘without sustenance there can be no Torah study,’ they certainly knew what they were on about.

The Immigrant Absorption Ministry’s ad campaign to return expat Israelis is evidence.

Jewish legal authorities can become insensitive to human need and apathetic to the lure of the Divine – this was displayed in a recent debate of whether a deaf community may hold a public Torah reading in Sign Language.

The decision by a Lakewood yeshiva not to observe Thanksgiving as a public holiday only, and therein requesting of bus drivers to work that day, is against the spirit of Jewish law on how we should engage in relationships with non-Jews.

The question of whether Orthodox soldiers should be forced to listen to female singers has exploded into a public scandal - what does this say about the shifting commitments on both sides?

On Thanksgiving, regardless of our religious background, we are supposed to pause and give thanks for the luxuries of food, family and shelter. In Judaism, every day is meant to be Thanksgiving.

Religious Zionism must show concern for the 'other' so as not to become morally bankrupt.

We must demonstrate that Jewish practice is a means for becoming a better person, living a more meaningful life, and flourishing as a human being; it’s not just as a way of becoming a ‘better Jew’.

It is our job, as leaders, to stop obsessing over affiliation rates and intermarriage statistics, and start focusing on what we know best: the nooks and crevices of Jewish wisdom.

Where do I pray while in transit? Does G-d really want me to gather a ‘minyan’ by the airplane toilet or galley?

On a recent trip to Israel I was faced with a dilemma: Am I, as a rabbi and an educator, supposed to be a spokesperson for Israel, or someone who engages with tough questions on the Jewish state?

Young Jews, from the Diaspora and Israel alike, need to give their Jewish identities a paintjob, so that the Jewish people can grow stronger together.

Many feel that 'yom tov sheni', the second day added to Jewish festive days in the Diaspora, is an institution that has long outlived its purpose and should be abolished, however, the importance of this second day is paramount.

Religious coercion is the enemy of true religion; genuine spirituality can only come when it is intelligently presented and accompanied by the warmth and loving kindness which have always been associated with Jewish life.

Gilad Shalit was in captivity for five years, frozen in irreclaimable time; five years lost to him and to his family; so much potential for productivity, for love, and for life - suspended in state, in a dark corner of the Gaza Strip.

Offering tzedaka, which is often mistranslated as meaning charity, is by definition, righteousness, a benefit more for the giver than the receiver.

Many newly ordained rabbinical students and Torah educators in Israel are quickly discovering that the career they felt called upon to pursue is a one way ticket to the Diaspora

Jewish living is more then just life cycle events. If we are really serious about passing our tradition 'L’dor Vador', from generation to generation, then we can’t just customize our observance.

The Shema has almost become a mantra for the Jewish people, yet the irony of this is that we, as Jews, are not unified.

We are not predisposed to choosing life, for loving, listening, and connecting can leave us fragile and exposed; choosing life is choosing to be vulnerable.

On Yom Kippur, God judges not only every individual, but every nation too; the Jewish people must strive to build the most moral, ethical society in the world.

While rocking out to popular tunes with a Jewish message is fantastic, some of the more recent Jewish-themed videos are moving beyond the marketing plug, instead worthy for their educational value.

The shofar is not meant to be a one-liner; despite the fact that we blow it each morning throughout the month of Elul, the shofar is not intended to be something rehearsed for weeks in the back of our minds.

When working in the non-profit world, one must balance financial considerations with an idealistic passion for the meaning behind one’s work.

A defensive embargo against other schools of Judaism is a strategy whose days are numbered, and one that will further marginalize the Orthodox message for many Israelis for whom Torah is alien.

Before 9/11 we saw it on TV, but terror rarely came to U.S. shores; we must confront those who want to destroy our way of life, and prevent their hatred of from spreading further.

By viewing Teshuvah as strictly individualistic in nature we run the risk of crossing into the realm of self-absorption and narcissism.

By dropping their children off, and relinquishing the opportunity to learn with their children, Jewish parents cheat themselves of an important Jewish experience.

As Jews our responsibilities extend beyond our own turf to the people of the world who are suffering.

A great deal of anti-convert sentiments within Jewish communities are due to a misunderstanding of normative or 'traditional' Jewish values, when in fact Jew by Choice is just as Jewish as any Jew by Birth.

Letting others know what a good deal one gets seems to be a ‘Jewish value,’ however, this must not come at the cost of being a light unto the nations.

In this increasingly technological, staggeringly global world, many of us have come to the terrifying realization that our time is no longer our own; this is why, more than ever, we need Shabbat in our lives.

There is something far more profound than economics driving this protest; it is being pushed by both a passionate desire to believe that Israel can be a better place to live, and an urgent need to know that we are not alone in that belief.

Tisha B’Av reminds us of the terrible consequences of not working together for the good of all of our people - a lesson both Jews in Israel and abroad could stand to remember.

Stereotypical perceptions of the Jewish family simply do not reflect reality historically, or today; the Jewish community must open its arms to all types of families.

The Book of Psalms teaches us that “wine gladdens the heart of humankind.” Yet, what are we Jews to do when wine goes sour, and it causes us disappointment?

A static siddur can become rote and exceedingly familiar to us; we must struggle to inject the necessary spiritual direction to transform our prayer from a mere memorized monologue into a meaningful dialogue with the Divine.

Jerusalem’s cultural programming should be viewed as a laboratory where questions of shared identity can be explored; tolerating one another does not create shared experiences, and our city of gold deserves better.

Orthodox control over Israeli civil institutions lessens the vibrancy and diversity of what it means to be Jewish because it establishes that the Orthodox community has a monopoly on Jewish authenticity.