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Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and the Rescue of Ethiopian Jewry (Part 2)

Shmarya Rosenberg posted a correspondence he had with Rabbi Moshe Feinstein on the plight of Ethiopian Jewry. It is a valuable historical document-one that will most likely be studied by future generations. Here is the record of his correspondence with Rav Moshe Feinstein.

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Recently, I found Rabbi Moshe Feinstein’s 1984 teshuva-letter on Ethiopian Jews stuck between two file folders. (You can click the thumbnail image for a larger, more readable image or download a PDF.[1]) This letter was written in response ...

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Categories: Contrarian wisdom, Conversion, Current Events, ethics, good and evil, Halacha, Heart-Centered Judaism, Jewish History, Jewish Law & Technology, judaism, Responsa Literature, The Future of Judaism, Theology and Philosophy

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Beyond the Five-Sensory Zone of Consciousness

Redefining the role of prayer in a modern age is one of modern Judaism’s greatest challenges. This is true not only of Judaism, but of all religion as well. I see prayer primarily in existential terms.

Prayer is rooted in the conviction that there is more to human life and consciousness than just the five-sensory world we experience. Our hunger and yearning the meaning of the universe and our lives prompts us to move from the ordinary to a reality that ...

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Categories: Bible, biblical history, biblical theology, Hassidic Theology, Heart-Centered Judaism, Jewish Prayer and Meditation, Jewish symbolism, judaism, The Future of Judaism, Theology and Philosophy

Authentic Mysticism vs. McMysticism

A true Jewish mystic doesn’t need to use hype or self-promotion like Rabbi Yitzchak Batzri’s snake-oil charms. Any self-respecting Kabbalist shouldn’t live for the next photo-op.

Martin Buber has always been a great inspiration to me. His views on Jewish mysticism are grounded in the interpersonal realm of the ethical. We meet God when we respect the Other who is before us. Emmanuel Levinas expresses a similar thought in many of his writings as well, but Buber still remains my favorite.

Historically, ...

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Categories: American Jewish Issues, Bible, biblical history, biblical theology, Contrarian wisdom, Current Events, ethics, good and evil, Hassidic Theology, Heart-Centered Judaism, Jewish History, judaism, Talmud, Zohar, and Midrash, The Future of Judaism, Theology and Philosophy, Uncategorized

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Believing in something vs. believing in nothing

Dorothy Sayers observes, “In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair… the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.”

The absence of passion in the face of evil explains why evil is so virulent in the world. Such a listless existence is no way ...

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Categories: American Jewish Issues, biblical theology, Contrarian wisdom, Current Events, Hassidic Theology, Heart-Centered Judaism, Jewish Prayer and Meditation, judaism, The Future of Judaism, Theology and Philosophy

A “Priestly Kingdom” (Exodus 19:6)

What does it mean to be a “priestly kingdom” in the Torah?

There was nothing intrinsic holy about the priest, he was not spiritually superior when compared to ordinary Israelites by the virtue of him being a born into a priestly family. The priests’ vocation was not one of privilege but of obligation and responsibility-noblige oblige.

According to the philosophers Philo of Alexandria (ca. 1st century) and Moses Maimonides (ca. 12th century), birth alone doesn’t guarantee uniqueness. So too, when classical Judaism ...

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Categories: Bible, biblical history, biblical theology, judaism, The Future of Judaism, Theology and Philosophy

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