Variations on the Chanukah Theme was originally delivered as a sermon by Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm during Chanukah 1958 (5718) at the Jewish Center in Manhattan, where he served as rabbi for nearly two decades.

Q: In light of all the oily food I’ll be consuming over Chanukah, can you explain how oils can be healthy if they contain so much fat? A: Ah, Chanukah, the Festival of Oil—I mean, Light. Because oil and light are intertwined in this holiday, many of us feel duty-bound to partake of the oily […]

In honor of Chanukah, it is traditional to eat foods fried in oil, including luscious latkes and sufganiyot (Israeli-style donuts traditionally filled with jam). Dairy dishes, especially those made with cheese, are also customary because the Jewish heroine Yehudit killed Holofernes, the Assyrian general, after feeding him cheese and wine. The challenge for today’s kosher […]

What is Mesorah? Mesorah is not primarily a corpus of knowledge to master but a process of accessing a chain of student-teacher relationships that reaches back to Sinai. Moshe received the Torah and transmitted it to his student, Yehoshua, who in turn taught it to his students and so on, continuing through today.1 The nature […]

No one looks forward to having surgery, but five and a half years ago, I actually did. I, a kidney doctor, was about to become a kidney donor. In the 1970s, shortly after I graduated medical school, kidney transplantation was still in its infancy and the five-year success rate was not that encouraging. My sister […]

The genesis of this essay began with an inquiry by the Jewish Action editors as to whether there is enough novel or substantive material about the halachic issues of living kidney donation to merit an article. “It seems clear that kidney donation is permitted, though not obligatory. Is there anything else to discuss?” it was […]

  Doctors Versus Patients: Who Decides Right-to-Life? In the fall of 2007, eighty-four-year-old Samuel Golubchuk, an Orthodox Jew, was admitted to the ICU unit of Grace Hospital in Winnipeg with pneumonia. Not long after, physicians told Golubchuk’s family that his chances of recovery were nil, and there was no point in maintaining him on a […]

We pray three times each day, but how often do we think about what prayer is or how it works? The exercise of prayer is fundamental in Judaism—it is, according to Chazal, “worship of the heart” and one of the pillars upon which the world rests. The Jewish concept of prayer is also extremely different […]

Divrei HaRav By Rabbi Herschel Schachter Mesorah Commission of the
 Orthodox Union Rabbi Hershel Schachter is a brilliant Talmudic scholar, a leading halachic decisor and a highly respected rosh yeshivah and rosh kollel at Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS). This accomplished scholar and beloved student of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (“the Rav”) […]

cultural center, hotel and museum all rolled into one, Tiberias’ House of Dona Gracia, replete with

          Photo: Vosamo Photography The Story of the Robe When I first arrived in Atlanta, Georgia, in the fifties, the president of the shul immediately suggested that I wear a black robe on the pulpit on Friday nights and Shabbos. Why? He was open about it. Ours was a small Orthodox […]

  Q: I am always at a loss trying to find something reasonably healthy to eat at our shul’s weekly kiddush. What do you suggest to improve kiddush fare? A: When I think of a typical kiddush, the first thing that comes to mind is the color brown: cholent, potato kugel, chopped liver, chocolate cookies, […]

Something strange is happening in Silicon Valley. A growing number of Jews living at high-tech industry’s doorstep are dramatically changing their surfing habits. They’ve been clicking away from Google, Facebook and Twitter and onto Rashi, Rambam and Tosafot. The spiritual upgrade is not only changing their online habits, it’s changing their lives. “There are hundreds […]

The Jew who arrives early to the daily synagogue service will soon hear these words chanted: “Ashreinu . . . Happy are we, how good is our portion, How lovely our fate, how beautiful our heritage.” With these words, we express not only our allegiance to our tradition, but our enthusiasm for it. We do […]

Mesorah and innovation: a contradiction in terms? To understand how these two concepts can coexist, we must first define them. The term mesorah means a number of things. In its broadest sense, it describes the transmission of Judaism from one generation to the next, all the way back to the Revelation at Sinai. At the […]

Senior Legislative Aide Zahava Goldman Brings Her Talents to Rep. Henry Waxman’s Office Health care reform, economic sanctions, unemployment benefits, bailouts . . . the daily headlines trumpet the accomplishments of our country’s lawmaking bodies. What is less apparent, however, to the casual headline-scanner is that behind these developments there’s a small army of hardworking […]

When the phone rings on Shabbat in Irv “Moishe” Lowenberg’s home, it’s very likely to be the Southfield, Michigan fire or police department relaying something that’s happened of which city officials should be aware. While enjoying time with his family and the scrumptious meal his wife, Chai, has prepared for the family and guests, Lowenberg […]

  One of the many conservative figures making headlines this year is the Catholic politician Pat Toomey running for the Senate for the state of Pennsylvania. At this point, readers may be asking the perennial question: “Is it good for the Jews?” Ask Nachama Soloveichik, the brilliant and engaging thirty-year-old who is the communications director […]

Religious Compulsions and Fears By Avigdor Bonchek Feldheim Publishers Jerusalem, 2009 198 pages Reviewed by Rivkah Rabinowitz It is often difficult to distinguish between “normal” meticulousness and behavior that is indicative of a problem. This is especially true among Orthodox Jews whose daily lives are regimented by the minutiae of halachah. In the Orthodox community, […]

There Are No Basketball Courts in Heaven By Dovid Landesman The Jewish Educational Workshop Pennsylvania, 2010 176 pages Rabbi Dovid Landesman’s volume of essays on Jewish themes is funny, serious and always relevant. In this thought-provoking book, he asks, for example, why do young students frequently complain that Torah studies are boring? This is not […]

Jerry and Anne Gontownik of Englewood, New Jersey, easily exemplify the motto, “you are what you do.” For close to three decades and running, this tireless duo has not only taken their nonstop concern about Jews and the Jewish future to heart, they’ve taken it to Washington, to Jerusalem, as well as to Senators, Congressman, […]

A moving tribute to the Bostoner Rebbe, on his first yahrtzeit (1921-2009). A very long and productive life came to an end last December—long not just because the Bostoner Rebbe died at the age of eighty-eight (18 Kislev 5770), but because of what he packed into each day. The Rebbe, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Horowitz, occupied […]