Issue

Volume # 0

Summer 2011(5771)

In this issue
Keeping it Cool
Food

Keeping it Cool

Ginger Pickled Salmon or Halibut Makes 8 servings 2 1/2 pounds Atlantic salmon fillets or halibut steaks (about 8 slices) 1 1/2 cups water 1 1/2 cups white vinegar or rice vinegar 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed 1/2 cup ketchup 3 tablespoons pickling spices 1 bay leaf 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 6 thin slices of […]

Mesorah: The Rav Speaks
Jewish Thought

Mesorah: The Rav Speaks

Below is a synopsis by Rabbi Steven Weil of a brilliant and influential speech delivered in 1975 by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik where he outlined the role of creativity and conservation in Torah. F

Back to the Beit Midrash
Inspiration

Back to the Beit Midrash

On the far left side of the beit midrash, three rows from the back of the room, one seat in at a narrow wooden table, is my makom kavua, my accustomed place to sit. Once a year. With few exceptions, I have used some of my vacation time—usually a week or two, sometimes a month […]

From The Desk of Rabbi Steven Weil, Senior Managing Director

The Out-of-Town Advantage

At the recent Orthodox Union dinner, we hosted a phenomenally successful Emerging Jewish Communities Fair, where representatives of thirty-nine communities from across North America showcased the places they call home. These communities, boasting of shuls, day schools, kosher eateries, as well as job opportunities and numerous other amenities that facilitate an Orthodox lifestyle, are wonderful […]

What’s the Truth About…Rashi’s Daughters?
Jewish Law

What’s the Truth About…Rashi’s Daughters?

MISCONCEPTION: Rashi’s daughters wore tefillin. FACT: There is no evidence that Rashi’s daughters wore tefillin. BACKGROUND: Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, known colloquially as “Rashi,” is the commentator par excellence on both the Torah and Talmud. Born in Troyes in northern France in 4801 (1040 CE), he descended on both sides from influential families. He studied in […]

Up Close with Yehuda Avner
Israel

Up Close with Yehuda Avner

Photos from The Prime Ministers, reprinted with permission from The Toby Press. Photo: Jono David Sitting in his private office in Jerusalem, Yehuda Avner still carries himself like a polished diplomat. The former ambassador and adviser to Israeli prime ministers is an energetic eighty-two year old, and has retained the gracious manner and self-deprecating humor […]

Keeping Our Kids on the Derech
Education

Keeping Our Kids on the Derech

Today’s teens often passionlessly and passively go through the motions of living an Orthodox lifestyle. This is true even for those who have spent years in Jewish day schools. The lack of a solid, fervent commitment to Yiddishkeit can cause many, especially those who attend secular universities, to eventually shed Torah observance entirely. How can […]

Reaching the iPod Generation
Outreach

Reaching the iPod Generation

NCSY Regional Directors Share Strategies on Raising Children to Love Judaism Jewish Action interviewed NCSY regional directors across the country and asked the following questions: How can we reach and inspire our children? What are the most effective ways to instill a passion for Judaism in our youth? Is a different approach necessary to reach […]

Why Aren’t Our Kids in Shul?
Family

Why Aren’t Our Kids in Shul?

There is a disturbing phenomenon that we in the Modern Orthodox community don’t like to talk about: many of our teenagers do not attend shul on Shabbat morning. To be sure, there are plenty of Modern Orthodox minyanim packed with serious adolescents. But judging from my conversations with parents and rabbis in communities across the […]

Securing Your Home in an Insecure World
Family

Securing Your Home in an Insecure World

When I was growing up, I don’t recall hearing anything about drugs or adolescent suicide, which is now the third-leading cause of death in that age group. Today, every remnant of modesty has disappeared, and moral corruption occurs in the highest offices of the land. Our children are exposed to unprecedented violence, immorality and corruption. […]

Jews in the Wild West: Cotopaxi’s Orthodox Pioneers
History

Jews in the Wild West: Cotopaxi’s Orthodox Pioneers

The harsh, rocky desolate terrain of southern Colorado is an unlikely site for settlement of Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jews. Yet, in 1882, devout immigrants from Tsarist Russia moved to Cotopaxi, Colorado, with the hopes of starting a Jewish agricultural colony. Here is their remarkable story of heroism and sacrifice. In the spring of 1882, twenty-three-year-old Michel […]

The Super Mashgiach: Rabbi Chaim Goldzweig
Kashrut

The Super Mashgiach: Rabbi Chaim Goldzweig

  Editor’s Note: The Chief, a new book about Rabbi Chaim Goldzweig, was recently released and can be purchased online. The book details the enormous contribution Rabbi Goldzweig, who passed away in 2018, made to the OU and to the world of kashrus. Below is a tribute we ran in 2011, marking Rabbi Goldzweig’s fiftieth […]

Jewish Thought

Mesorah as Halachic Source and Sensibility

Jewish tradition asserts that the greatest moment and most important event in history was not the creation of the world but the Revelation of the Torah (Matan Torah). Rabbinic sources perceive the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai as both the climax and telos of Creation. Strikingly, the midrash articulates this view even as […]

Opinion

Handle With Care

My mother used to admonish us with her favorite saying: “Not everything that one thinks should be spoken, and not everything one speaks should be written.” She tried, not always successfully, to teach us to be careful with words. These days, after WikiLeaks, my mother’s words turn out not to be just an old wives’ […]