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Rabbis' Round Table

From Mohammed Morsi’s election as Egypt's president, to Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio being named pope, how have world events made us feel this year? Freer, or more enslaved?

By Rabbi Micah Peltz / Jewish World blogger | Mar 20, 2013 | 11:27 PM

The Jewish obligation to obliterate the glass ceiling on women

Whether in the boardroom or on the 'bima,’ the Jewish concept of 'brit’ demands we provide women equal opportunities to men.

By Rabbi Elianna Yolkut / Jewish World blogger | Mar 20, 2013 | 11:25 AM

Nespresso coffee capsules: Strauss will offer an alternative.

Coffee, Haggadot, and Jewish assimilation

Modern and - yes, let’s face it - assimilated Jews find it hard to stick out a full Passover seder, but the answer is not to capitulate, rather to renew that which is ancient and sanctify that which is new.

By Rabbi Joel Seltzer / Jewish World blogger | Mar 13, 2013 | 11:58 AM

Listening to the 'wicked child' who dares to challenge Israeli policies

Rather than excluding nonconformists from the Jewish community, we should acknowledge that their love for the State of Israel is what drives their challenging questions.

By Rabbi Gideon D. Sylvester / Jewish World blogger | Mar 11, 2013 | 02:29 PM | 7

Limmud participants - Chaim Bacon - 23122011

The renaissance in Jewish culture

If from Zion the Torah should emerge, then why is the Jewish Diaspora leading the way in popular Jewish learning?

By Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz / Jewish World blogger | Mar 6, 2013 | 06:40 PM

Pope Benedict XVI, right, talks with Yisrael Meir Lau the Chairman of Yad Vashem

Will Pope Benedict XVI’s successor forget the mutually enriching relationship of Jews and Christians?

The future of Jewish-Catholic relations is at a crossroads; its future rests upon the new pope.

By Rabbi Dan Dorsch / Jewish World blogger | Mar 3, 2013 | 02:28 PM | 2

Producer Philippa Kowarsky, left, and director Dror Moreh

Judaism’s enemy No. 1: Moral complacency among religious Zionists

Extreme Jewish nationalism is heresy – the Prophets of Israel never provided ‘the chosen people’ with an excuse for triumphalism or moral laxity.

By Rabbi Gideon D. Sylvester / Jewish World blogger | Feb 27, 2013 | 09:07 AM | 25

A lesson of charity in the frivolity of Purim

If we waited all year for the perfect time to give tzedkah, perhaps we would never give it at all. Therefore, why not tie the mitzvah of giving to the day which represents not order, but chaos; not perfection, but randomness.

By Rabbi Joel Seltzer / Jewish World blogger | Feb 26, 2013 | 06:20 AM

The Knesset as beit midrash: A model of hope for a better Israel

During Dr. Ruth Calderon’s maiden Knesset speech, the new Yesh Atid MK brought the wisdom of Torah to the parliament of Israel, along with its methodology of discourse, fostering understanding and mutual respect.

By Rabbi Yehoshua Looks / Jewish World blogger | Feb 25, 2013 | 01:01 PM | 2

Purim teaches us to see God's hand in the dark

Why will Purim, unlike most other Jewish holidays, be celebrated in the world to come?

By Rabbi Micah Peltz / Jewish World blogger | Feb 16, 2013 | 07:18 PM

What I learned on the psych ward, before becoming a rabbi

As a student chaplain I was terrified to be assigned to the psych ward, but this time, as a rabbi, I couldn't get there fast enough.

By Rabbi Joel Seltzer / Jewish World blogger | Feb 12, 2013 | 06:16 PM | 5

Jewish children attending a Purim parade in Israel, 2008

Transforming synagogues with Jewish joy

Embracing the Jewish emphasis on joy would bring about a change to American-Jewish life throughout the year, not only on Rosh Hodesh Adar or Purim.

By Rabbi Michael Knopf / Jewish World blogger | Feb 10, 2013 | 09:36 PM

Ophir Ben-Shetreet, competitor on ‘The Voice Israel’.

The voice of a generation of Jewish transformation

When she chose a mentor in secular rock star Aviv Geffen, religious teen Ophir Ben-Shetreet became a symbol for today’s Jewish youth, who seek an autonomous path to God and Torah.

By Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz / Jewish World blogger | Feb 6, 2013 | 10:02 AM

Jewish World News

NYPD police vans in New York City’s Times Square.

New Yorker jailed in Rabbi Chaskel Werzberger's 1990 killing could be freed

By The Associated Press | 05:33 PM | 3

A nun holds a photograph of Pope Francis during a Thanksgiving Mass for the newly elected pope

Pope’s book co-authored with rabbi to be translated into English

By Reuters | 03:49 PM

U.S. appeals court hears 'Jerusalem is Israel' passport case

By JTA | 02:20 PM | 24

The Jewish Thinker

It’s time to end the slavery of narrow-mindedness

By Arie Hasit / Jewish World blogger | 12:06 PM

Forget the ultra-Orthodox; focus on settlers

By Joel Braunold / Jewish World blogger | 12:14 AM

Moderate rabbis are all around us, even in Israel

By Arie Hasit / Jewish World blogger, Emily Levy-Shochat | 02:45 PM | 9

Kosher cuisine

Modern Manna recipe / Date, walnut, and red wine charoset

By Vered Guttman | 03:05 PM

Kosher for Passover potato gnocchi with sage and porcini sauce

By City Mouse Online | 12:00 PM

Bringing Jews together through food (never underestimate the power of lox)

By Vered Guttman | 06:41 PM