May 5, 2025
The thought of Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, who died in 1935, remains extremely influential today in religious Zionist circles. Rav Kook’s ideology, particularly as interpreted by his son, Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook, in books like Orot, has helped to set the agenda for much of the dati leumi world.
Over the past...
Feb 3, 2025
What is it like for a doctor, who has spent his life treating patients, to become a patient himself? That was the experience of Dr. Avi Rockoff when he learned that he had a very serious form of prostate cancer, and which he chronicles in his new book, When the Doctor Becomes the Patient.
He was exposed to what he terms...
Oct 28, 2024
Today I’m talking about something that I’ve spoken about before, repeatedly, both on this podcast and on my Substack, Orthodox Conundrum Commentary: the problem of a large number of Chareidi, or ultra-Orthodox Jews, who receive army exemptions, usually (though not always) because they’re learning in yeshivot.
Why...
Sep 9, 2024
Many people often talk about addiction and dependence; and in doing so, they may use those terms inexactly. When it comes to gambling, however, those words are, unfortunately, correct. Problem gambling is a growing problem in the United States - particularly online gambling, which has been growing exponentially since the...
Jul 15, 2024
68 years ago, Rav Soloveitchik zt'l identified the timidity of Orthodox Jews as representing a failure to respond to the miracle of renewed Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel. Today, tragically, we seem to have the opposite problem. In 2024, Israel has a religious establishment which has completely lost its sense...