by Joel Rich To make a long story short – a Son-In-Law whose both parents are alive (and wife only has one brother – who could not say kaddish that day) asked someone else to say kaddish for their Mother-In-Law that day. The OU Vebbe Rebbe says “The main issue has to do with the Kaddish following Aleinu at the ...

by Joel Rich It’s interesting how girsa dyankuta lo mishtakchei (the learning of one’s youth is not forgotten) –I wonder if The Big D (Rabbi Dulitz y’l) and Doc G (Rabbi Goldstein z’l) ever thought we’d remember any English lit [or torah] (I had them both as rabbeim as well) I thought of the opening lines of this poem for ...

by Joel Rich From a recent WSJ(No coincidences-see R’ Gottlieb shiur below): All this presents a long overdue opportunity to rethink the philosophical underpinning of the nation’s transplant policy. For decades, desperate transplant patients and their loved ones have been captive to the ethical fiction that donating for free is noble while accepting compensation is sordid or undignified. Altruism is ...

by Joel Rich The main problem, the Kadima source insisted, was that the haredi parties refused to entertain the notion of personal responsibility for yeshiva students (me-personal responsibility, what a novel idea today) Question: Rav Moshe says a baal nefesh should be machmir (stringent) not to listen to music played with an instrument. Why is the community that is so ...

by Joel Rich link “Women of my generation have clung to the feminist credo we were raised with … because we are determined not to drop the flag for the next generation,” Ms. Slaughter wrote. “But when many members of the younger generation have stopped listening, on the grounds that glibly repeating ‘you can have it all’ is simply airbrushing ...

by Joel Rich Question 1: You know you will be going to a wedding where they will daven mincha and (i) not say Tachanun and/or (ii) say a heicha kedusha. Is there “an inyan” (for (i) and (ii) or both) to find a different minyan to daven mincha at? always nice to see someone agrees with me (even if it’s ...

by Joel Rich Good advice – Similar to mussar given by R’YBS on many occasions Before the establishment of the Jewish state, David Ben-Gurion sought the wise counsel of his trusted colleague Yitzhak Tabenkin in making a crucial decision. Tabenkin gave Ben-Gurion his counsel, and Israel’s first prime minister said, “I accept what you say, but from whom did you ...

by Joel Rich PLEASE COMMENT: June 7, 2012 The Moral Diet By DAVID BROOKS Next time you feel tempted by something, recite the Ten Commandments. A small triggering nudge at the moment of temptation, Ariely argues, is more effective than an epic sermon meant to permanently transform your whole soul. I’d add that you really shouldn’t shoot for goodness, which ...

by Joel Rich From a Recent Issue of “Conversations” (written by a lay person) -Please react? The emergence of the “professional rabbi” in combination with other flatteners detailed below is probably the most important factor. The Sephardic tradition as detailed by Maimonides calls for community rabbis to serve the local community while pursuing their own professional or commercial career goals. ...

by Joel Rich Interesting article in the current issue of Conversations on “Learning from the Bene Israel of India”. They have an oral tradition which Rabbi Shafner somewhat describes. My questions is how do we know we got it right and they need to switch to our understanding of halacha? If they need to switch, why did later deviations (e.g. ...