Torah and Professionalism: Part I Part I – To Learn Full-Time or to also Engage in a Profession?
Adaptation of an Address by Rabbi Dr. Yitzchok Breitowitz at the summer 1999 Darche Noam Yarchei Kallah on “Torah im Derech Eretz” We will attempt here to explore a diversity of views on the subject of Torah and professionalism. When Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky zt’l discussed this issue he emphasized that it is not an area […]
Prayer: the Free-Will Offering of Klal Yisrael
by Rabbi Yehuda Schnall There is a well-known disagreement over the source and status of our obligation to pray. The two main figures in the debate are the Rambam and the Ramban. (See the Rambam’s Sefer Hamitzvot, Positive Commandment #5, and the Ramban’s comments thereon.) According to the Rambam, there is a Biblical obligation (De’Oraita) […]
Contrasts in American and Jewish Law
By Daniel Pollack alumnus of Yeshivat Darche Noam/Shapell’s College Not long ago, I was in Boro Park, Brooklyn, in Eichler’s bookstore. An ordinary scene was taking place. A father and his young son, observant Jews, were examining a book on halacha, Jewish law. They were discussing the merits of the book and whether it was […]
Heard at the Lashon Hara Conference Reflections on the 5760 “Torah World’s Lashon Hara Conference”
There was a feeling this Wednesday night at the Ramat Tamir Hotel that this was not just another conference on Lashon Hara. The inside of the hall was packed (during Bein Hazmanim) and there were another hundred or so (mostly youth) watching and listening outside on a giant screen. A cross section of much of […]
Chumrot: More isn’t Always Better – Rabbi Shaya Karlinsky
The issue of chumrot – knowing in which cases to take stringent approaches in halakha — breeds much confusion among those who are newly religious, often leading to imbalance in their development. This has been born out by our experience in educating ba’alei teshuva at Darche Noam for over twenty years. The mainstream Orthodox community’s […]
Solidarity with Israel by Andrew White, London (Darche Noam Alumnus)
Making the Spiritual Connection At this time of anguish for the Jewish people, those of us who live outside Israel have an obligation to respond through our spiritual efforts. We here in England, and elsewhere in the diaspora, are physically distant from the land of Israel. However, we are all connected to the situation. This […]
Ben Yehuda Street Shattered By Daniel Green (Darche Noam Alumnus)
January 24, 2002 – 11 Shevat, 5762 I rarely write so extensively on life in Israel, but recent events have been so difficult to deal with that I needed to share them in more detail. Perhaps I just need a way to express my emotions. It’s been a very difficult time in Israel, and the […]
Struggle for the Land: Risks and Rewards
by Rabbi Shaya Karlinsky October 30, 2000 The Jewish people in Israel are at war. As Torah Jews who believe in Jewish destiny and divine providence, we are required to look at the theological dimension of current events, especially since what is happening today is having such an overwhelming impact on the future of the […]
Another Day, Another Akeidah
by Rebbetzin Esther Shurin That Israel is enduring trial and tribulation while the rest of the world seems a much calmer place reminds me of a famous question asked by Rabbi Soloveitchik and Rabbi Hutner regarding the Akeida. After Avraham comes down from Har HaMoriya, he hears about his brother Nachor’s family and of the […]
Returning Home: Why We Left LA for Israel
by Rabbi Joel Zeff The prophet Isaiah described the in-gathering of the exiles “as a cloud flies and as doves to their dovecotes.” Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel under the British mandate, interpreted this dual metaphor. He suggested that ultimately all Jews would return to their ancestral […]
