It is often said that a person is what he eats. Then I guess a person’s attitude to matters of food must say a lot about his religion. It is one of the great features of Judaism as a religion that it creates a framework for daily living that involves thinking and acting rather than just affirming vague ethical ideas…
Great Leaders?
Very few Jews, let alone others, have heard of him. A few weeks ago Dayan Eliezer Waldenberg, the author of the magisterial compilation of legal opinions, Tzitz Eliezer, died at the age of 89. He was, in my opinion the greatest living authority on Jewish Law with particular reference to science and medicine. He was my halachic mentor. But more…
Gay Israel
This week, the Israeli daily, Haaretz reported: In a precedent-setting ruling, the High Court of Justice yesterday ruled that five gay couples who wed outside of Israel can be registered as married couples in the Population Registry. A majority of six justices to one ruled that the Interior Ministry would have to register five gay couples as married based on…
Agunah Again
It has been a while since I last wrote about one of the subjects that really concerns and troubles me, the Agunah. An Agunah (literally, the tied/encircled woman, see Ruth 1.13) is a woman whose husband refuses to give her a divorce, or is unable to (perhaps he has been killed or kidnapped but more usually he’s just being a…
Corruption
The term “jeremiad” describes a doom laden diatribe against a corrupt society, associated with the Biblical prophet Jeremiah. This is going to be an example of a jeremiad. Now Jeremiah certainly knew that at the time he lived, two thousand six hundred years ago, there were far more corrupt nations around than his own little kingdom of Judea. He was…
Be Happy
During the festival of Sukkot (“Tabernacles” for some), we are catapulted into a totally different mood and atmosphere just five days after Yom Kippur. But I am going to admit that it does strange things to me. It makes me totally aware of contradictions, mine and others. According to the Talmud we must leave our permanent homes and move into…