Tikkun Olam

Two stories which disgusted me, but we can't hide our heads in the sand (that would be too much like the Catholic church did before the stories of the pedophile priests were revealed), the story must be told.  It is the only way we have a chance at elevating ourselves to be the true "light unto the nations" we are supposed to be.  Excerpts below, first here , and then here . Bnei Brak man suspected of raping young boys in haredi town of Modi'in Ilit By BEN HARTMAN 10/17/2013 Police say father of one victim came forward after meeting with rabbi to ask if he should go to police. modiin ilit Photo: Tovah Lazaroff Modi’in Illit Police have arrested a 20-year-old resident of Bnei Brak suspected of involvement in attacks on several victims, including a sexual assault on a nine-year-old boy. Police noted that the victim’s father went to his rab...

There was a time, in the not-so-distant past, when ultra-Orthodox parents would sit shiva if a child of theirs left Orthodox Judaism.  To them, it was as if their child had died. That does not sit well with me, to say the least.  My child will always be my child, and I will love them forever--even if they choose a path of life different than mine.  I would prefer, of course, that they continue to be religious, even a little.  Why? Because I believe it is one of the most wonderful religions out there. Orthodox Judaism has a beautiful way of life--regardless of whether it is "true" or not.  Because I tried, as best I could with the tools that I had, to teach them the positive values of our religion, the beauty, kindness, love, which are manifested through chesed * and tzedakah *, caring for others in the community, in our close Orthodox kehilah *. The Jewish religion, as practiced through the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly rituals, plain and simple: makes t...

 (nablopomo day 2)  Why is it so hard for people to be honest about what they see?  Why are we Jews afraid to admit that there is a serious, serious problem with Hareidi* Judaism? We experienced this ourselves, in our own family, when our daughter (Rambo) first went to Israel in 2004.  She was fifteen years old, and had completed her first year in high school here in the States. For her next three years of high school, she was in Israel, on the Na'aleh program, first attending high school at Kvutzat Yavneh .  One of their first class trips to Jerusalem took them to the Me'ah She'arim neighborhood, an old  ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in the north-central part of the city.  The class was small, consisting of 7 or 8 girls and 3 boys.  Although it was a modern-religious school, they knew where they were going and were dressed modestly, wearing long skirts and long or three-quarter length sleeves, and walked through the neighborhood quietly ...

I just read a guest post by E. Fink on DovBear about Black Hats (capitals intended) being like kugel. He says (as he states, partially tongue-and-cheekly ) that it, like kugel, is a social phenomenon, not a religious one. I tend to agree, and although I am not going in depth (with links and hours of research) into this here, I do want to say something about it. A Black Hat (and shtreimel for that matter) or kapote or bekishe is more reminiscent of 17th century Polish dress (and Jewish dress at that time) which means it is cultural in nature. Just as we in the twenty-first century in the West dress (men, specifically) in pants and shirt/jacket, most men in that era wore long coats (often over knickers, long socks and blousy shirts which some Hassidic sects wear today) and warm hats, appropriate for the cold climate of Eastern Europe, but not so for their Sephardic and transplanted Ashkenazic brethren in the Middle East. Somehow or other, Hassidic sects fixated on a cultural dress of...

By virtue of the fact that my father taught and was Hebrew Supervisor at the Ramaz School for around thirty years, I was enrolled as a student there for twelve years. Along with my home environment, Ramaz is where I was imprinted with Zionism and Judaism, and received an outstanding Jewish education. I received Principal Rabbi Haskel Lookstein's Rosh Hashana address in my email a week or two ago. He was the assistant principal when I was a student there (his father, Rabbi Joseph Lookstein a"h, who also officiated at my chatunah, was then principal). I feel that this address is important enough to share with my readers. It very much epitomizes what Modern Orthodoxy strives to be today. Add to that the idea of G-d being available to everyone learned or not, and also emphasizing mysticism, spirituality and holiness in one's daily life, joy and dance in observance as well as serious Jewish (and secular) scholarship; and knowing that I am descendant (on my mother...

There is a mystical Chassidic tradition that there are always present in every generation 36* righteous, humble Jews, " whose role in life is solely to justify the purpose of mankind in the eyes of G-d ." They are necessary to sustain the world. Even if the world descends into barbarism (in which path it often seems to be going these days), as long as these 36 righteous Jews exist, G-d will not destroy the world. Each one of these Tzaddikim is unbeknownst to the other, and if only one of them was missing, the world would end. They are also known as the " Tzaddikim Nistarim ," the 'hidden righteous ones. Because no one knows who they are, and because if someone 'declares' himself to be one of them we know it isn't he, each one of us should strive to be like one of them; we should, humbly, do good and show great kindness to every Jew, no matter if he is different than you. I saw this video and had tears in my eyes, and thought it was appropriate ...