Category Archives: halacha

Mikvah – followed by Tefillin

Posted on June 24, 2009 by

This morning, on my 25th birthday, I put on Teffilin (my teffilin), for the first time. I marveled at the visceral wonder – wrapping leather cords around my arm – an act of prayer. Its pagan strange beauty made me … Continue reading →

Posted in gender, halacha, religion | 3 Comments

END KIDUSHIN NOW

Posted on May 28, 2009 by

I was in fact thrilled to find out that women apparently are less happy today than they were forty years ago – thrilled I tell you. Because that means that women are not complacent like they had once been. Women … Continue reading →

Posted in gender, halacha, Jewish | 2 Comments

Ha-Sodot (“The Secrets”) review

Posted on May 14, 2009 by

I have wanted to see Ha-Sodot for a very long time, and while it proved to be far tamer than expected it is still a fairly good film. The combination of Safet, frum young women in medrasha, and lots of … Continue reading →

Posted in halacha, israel, religion, sexuality | 1 Comment

Perishing the Halahic Woman

Posted on May 13, 2009 by

As I sit down to write this, I am reminded of the speech written in 1852 by Sojourner Truth, a speech entitled “Aint I a Woman?” In her speech Truth seeks to unite the plight of slavery and the plight … Continue reading →

Posted in gender, halacha | Leave a comment

Modesty is a dirty word.

Posted on February 19, 2008 by

A few weeks ago a story surfaced about Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women in Israel wearing a garment a kin to a “burka” as a way of up-ing the anti on modesty. The original Haartz article on this issue is in Hebrew, … Continue reading →

Posted in blogs, gender, halacha, israel, Jewish, women's health | 2 Comments

The one who teaches his daughter math is teaching her to lasciviousness

Posted on February 14, 2008 by

The modern day version of “the one who teaches his daughter Torah is teaching her lasciviousness” (Talmud, Sotah 20a) has arrived. An article in the Seattle Times links an increase in education for girls to an increase in drugs, alcohol … Continue reading →

Posted in blogs, education, gender, halacha | Leave a comment

Does sex cause depression?! and Shmuley Boteach

Posted on September 4, 2007 by

It’s been a while since I posted last. I left good-old Zionist Israel and moved to DC, to study Law. (Two weeks in and I still have my idealism, Still hoping to change the world, and all that jazz J … Continue reading →

Posted in blogs, gender, halacha | 3 Comments

The Rebbe, the Soul of Moses and “Continuous Revelation”

Posted on July 27, 2007 by

I went to the Accent Youth Hostel in Safed for a full Sunday. I sat on the porches with the beautiful overlooks of hills and valleys. I went for pizza on the busy commercial street of Safed, on the way, … Continue reading →

Posted in halacha, israel, Jewish | 4 Comments

The will of God and leaving Orthodox Judaism

Posted on July 17, 2007 by

My last week of saying good-bye to Orthodoxy has begun, and after a lengthy google search I could find nothing relevant for “leaving orthodoxy” and thus I take it upon myself to create the post  I was looking for all … Continue reading →

Posted in gender, halacha, religion, torah | 31 Comments

A word of Torah at Nahloat.

Posted on July 12, 2007 by

For reasons that escape me utterly I am still in Israel, now studying Judaism, at Nishmat, a Dati Lumi (Religious Zionist) seminary. (I will tell you all about it soon. Today I must write about the Dvar Torah I heard … Continue reading →

Posted in gender, halacha, israel, religion, torah | Leave a comment