When I was a student in Yeshiva College during the Middle Bronze Age, the university’s watchword Torah u-Maddawas generally understood as the study of both traditional Torah and secular disciplines with the overarching goal of establishing a “synthesis” between the two.

In the hard sciences this objective had

There was a great deal of religious ambivalence about Zionism in its early years. On one hand, the return to the Land of Israel had always been a religious aspiration of the Jewish people, and yet the nascent movement was a secular movement to its core, whether in the neutral sense that it viewed state-building as a non-religious endeavor, or in the

Every year I ask my class on “Wealth and Poverty” to play a simple game. I have them split up into pairs and imagine I’m giving one of them $1,000. They can keep some of the money only on condition they reach a deal with their partner on how it’s to be divided up between them. I explain they’re strangers who will never see one other again, can only

Fair Lawn—On March 23, Yeshiva University and RIETS will be celebrating their Chag  HaSemicha celebration which takes place every four years. I will have the privilege of being a participant in this year’s chag, as I missed the previous celebration by one year and had to wait to be a part of such an exciting celebration of Torah and the

One has to understand to believe either way.

The report released jointly by the Royal Society in the U.K. and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences provides a guide to current climate change science for a non-scientific audience.

In this respect it is an interesting undertaking by two of the world’s most eminent scientific bodies,

With kosher and halal food an increasingly common feature of the British high street, a top vet has called for reform of their slaughter practices, calling them inhumane.These alternative methods of animal slaughter rightly provoke a heated debate about the welfare of farm animals and the ethics of killing them. But is there a humane way of killing animals

Naming is the most human of functions. In the Bible, Adam named the animals and plants. Scientists name diseases, and in so doing they identify its symptoms, predict its consequences and prescribe treatments. Ultimately, they seek a cure or better yet a means to prevent the disease.

If we call the diplomacy, the give and take underway a return to the “peace

The First World War was a tragic time for most of the one million Jews of Galitzia, as it was for much of Eastern European Jewry. Fonder recollections of life for Galitzian Jewry under the Austrian monarch, Franz Josef, soon faded under the brutality of the Russian army which invaded Galitzia, and soon faced the German Kaiser’s forces which came to the aid of their

Songs are often more than music, but also the embodiment of ideas and ideals. We can all think of such works. Some inspire us, while others simply tell the story of a certain time or people. The most powerful songs do both. In this light, let’s look at a verse from a popular Jewish song from a generation ago and at the educational idea it contains. Feel free to sing

The flagship needs to right its course.

Modern Orthodoxy has a problem and a blessing: it is the belief that one can be both Modern and Orthodox. The problem is that when one changes, the other must, too, for if we are truly to be both Modern and Orthodox, then as modern world changes, our Orthodoxy must change, too. And that must start with conversations about

One aspect of the war between Israel and the Palestinians must be resolved: the continuing humanitarian crisis facing descendants of Arab refugees from 1948, who wallow in UNRWA refugee facilities under the notion of “return” to villages which no longer exist.

To that end, the Center for Near East Policy Research, has launched The UNRWA Reform Initiative

My perspective on the recent announcements that several female students have requested and been given permission to wear tefillinat Shacharitat SAR Academy in Riverdale would be what you might call a long view, as it’s now been over 20 years since I left my community Jewish day school behind for college, career, motherhood, and