There has been an increased interest in whisky in recent years, and with it a lot of confusion about the halachic permissibility of drinking blended Scotch. The issue involves the old sherry casks in which it is sometimes aged. Since this non-Jewish sherry would be forbidden to drink, some say the whisky is also forbidden. However, when I was a…
Blog
Do non-Jews have souls?
A recent exchange from JROD: QUESTION: Jeremy, I’ve always been uncomfortable with the notion of Jews having a “higher” level of Neshama than non-Jews. I was wondering what variety of opinions we have on this in our tradition and, in fact, how a neshama is defined. RESPONSE: Hey this is heavy duty stuff and an excellent example of an issue…
Money only talks to those who listen!
Judaism has never advocated poverty nor recommended it as a spiritually uplifting experience. Indeed, the Talmud describes the feeling of poverty as akin to death. Nor has it ever suggested that “money is the root of all evil” or that “it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven than a camel can pass through the…
Chief Rabbis
The Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, has voted to make changes to the positions of Chief Rabbi in Israel, notably to merge two positions into one. Of course, those who stand to lose their perks are up in arms! It is risible that religious positions should be decided by governments altogether. Indeed, I find it a joke that similar appointments are…
The March of Folly
This past week we have witnessed the universality of folly. In Iraq Moqtader Al Sadr, that murderous political fanatic with the blood of the saintly Al Khoei on his hands, continues to defy everyone except his own armed thugs. They have hijacked holy places in pursuit of a purely political agenda (something hitherto only seen in Bethlehem). He stands in…
Agudah Rediscovers Its Peacenik Roots
It is a common misconception that all ultra-Orthodox Jews are political extremists. In Israel for example, most, though not all, very Orthodox rabbis have always argued that peace is more important than land. After all, they base themselves on the main and moderate Pharisee leadership two thousand years ago, at the time of the Roman occupation, who wanted to negotiate…