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Lessons from Hillel: There Is Generally No One “Right” Way in Halacha

There is a lesson that many conversion candidates and newly religious Jews are not told until they’ve made a fool of themselves: There are different interpretations of halacha, and it’s possible for all these interpretations to be halachically valid and accepted. In other words, the modern orthodox, the “just plain orthodox,” the chassidim, and the […]

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Interesting Follow-Up: Active Mormons Misrepresenting Themselves to Convert to Orthodox Judaism

Funny how you hear one thing…and then you run into the same thing 40 times in the next week.  Here is a story written by an LDS member two weeks ago about Mormons seeking to convert to orthodox Judaism. It’s very well-written and also fairly represents the Jewish reaction. I’m glad to know both sides are

Interesting Follow-Up: Active Mormons Misrepresenting Themselves to Convert to Orthodox Judaism Read Post »

Phrase of the Day: Yetzer Hara

Technically, if we’re going to talk about the yetzer hara, we’ll also discuss the yetzer hatov.  The yetzer hara is the “evil inclination.” Yetzer (inclination) ha (the) ra (evil). The yetzer hatov is the “good inclination.”  The yetzer hara gets a bad reputation, but it is a necessary part of each of us. The yetzer

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Priority-Setting and Jewish Life

I’m having soapbox Friday early this week. I’ve seen a lot of discussion lately about the price of kosher food and students becoming kosher. To be honest, the price argument eludes me. I don’t get it. If you think that G-d has commanded you to only eat meat in a certain way, then you would find

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UPDATED: If You Think Only an Orthodox Conversion Is “Good Enough,” Then Don’t Get a Liberal One!

Who Are We Talking About: Please take the time to read a few paragraphs instead of having a knee-jerk reaction to the title. I’m not talking about the people you think I’m talking about. I’m not talking about people who are converting liberal but are open to the possibility of converting orthodox at a later

UPDATED: If You Think Only an Orthodox Conversion Is “Good Enough,” Then Don’t Get a Liberal One! Read Post »

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