This week in Daf Yomi, Rabbi Yuter discusses some life lessons learned from the Jewish wedding.
Ep 169 This Week in Daf Yomi Ketuvot 16-22 – Life Lessons From Jewish Weddings
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The Talmud was clearly not written with modern day sensibilities in mind, which may lead to disturbing reactions from those who study it. Rabbi Yuter gives some examples from the previous week’s Daf Yomi and discusses some approaches to handling these passages.
Consider this more of a beginning of a discussion than a definitive solution, and hopefully, guests can come on to share different perspectives (schedules permitting).
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In a rare personal podcast, Rabbi Yuter shares experiences from his first six months as an Oleh Hadash (new immigrant to Israel).
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Rabbi Yuter begins a brand new Podcast series called This Week in Daf Yomi discussing topics covered in the previous week’s schedule of daily Talmud study. Today’s edition discusses the ramifications of principle in Jewish law that all Jewish marriages are performed with the approval of the Rabbinic sages.
References are made to two previous podcasts: Understanding the Agunah Problem and Solutions to the Agunah Problem.
Comments welcome!
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Rabbi Jeffrey Fox recently published a teshuvah regarding the presence of the male Beit Din at the mikvah immersion of a female convert. My response came out to over 20 pages with footnotes and formatting, which I feel would be as annoying to read as a blog post as it would be for me to transcribe it. As such I am posting my response in PDF format here and on Scribd. I strongly encourage readers to first consult R. Fox’s teshuvah (PDF) in the original. I also reference and recommend reading Immersion, Dignity, Power, Presence and Gender by Rabbi Ethan Tucker.
Rabbi Josh Yuter – Reviewing Rabbinic Oversight a Response to Rabbi Jeffrey Fox (PDF)
Rabbi Josh Yuter – Reviewing Rabbinic Oversight a Response to Rabbi Jeffrey Fox
The Rabbinical Council of America recently released the archives of its journal “Tradition” to the public. For those interested in Modern Orthodox Judaism and the development, Tradition is an invaluable resource as a window into its intellectual history. With all the great articles to choose from, Rabbi Yuter welcomes special guest Rabbi Avraham Bronstein to discuss some of their favorites.
Here is the list of articles discussed, all links are in PDF format.
| Josh’s Picks | Avraham’s Picks |
|---|---|
| Lamm, Norman. “The Religious Implications of Extraterrestrial Life.“ 2 Tradition 7-8 (1965-1966): 5-56. | Lebowitz, Yeshayahu. “In Defense of “Separation” in Israel.” Tradition 2.2 (1960): 203-217. Gan-Zvi, Israel. “Against “Separation” in Israel.” Tradition 2.2 (1960): 218-236. |
| Soloveitchik, Joseph B. “Confrontation / Addendum.” Tradition 6.2 (1964). 3 | Geller, Victor. “How Jewish Is Jewish Suburbia?.” Tradition 2.2 (1960): 318-330. |
| Leibowitz, Isiah. “The Spiritual and Religious Meaning of Victory and Might.” Trans. Isaac Gottlieb. Tradition 10.3 (1969): 5-11. | Rackman, Emanuel. “The Future of Jewish Law.” Tradition 6.2 (1964): 121-131. |
| Tendler, Moshe David. “The Anatomy of a Responsum: The Kashruth of Vinegar Produced From Wine Alcohol.” Tradition 22.4 (1987): 47-55. | Wyschogrod, Michael. “The Jewish Interest in Vietnam.” Tradition 8.4 (1966): 5-18. |
| Lichtenstein, Aaron. “The Israeli Chief Rabbinate: A Current Halakhic Perspective.” Tradition 26.4 (1992): 26-38. | Lichtenstein, Aharon, et al. “A Rabbinic Exchange on Baruch Goldstein’s Funeral.” Tradition 28.4 (1994): 59-63. Shapira, Avraham, and Aharon Lichtenstein. “A Rabbinic Exchange on the Gaza Disengagement.” Tradition 40.1 (2007): 17-44. Lichtenstein, Aharon, and Avraham Yisrael Sylvestky. “A Rabbinic Exchange on the Gaza Disengagement, Part Two.” Tradition 40.2 (2007): 49-70. |
Other Referenced articles:
Frimer, Aryeh A. and Dov Frimer. “Women’s Prayer Services – Theory and Practice.” Tradition 30.2 (1998): 5-118.
Soloveitchik, Haym. “Rupture and Reconstruction: The Transformation of Contemporary Orthodoxy.” Tradition 28.4 (1994): 64-130.
Notable Theme Issues:
An Excel file (.xls) with a spreadsheet of every article in the Tradition archive is available here.
The Tradition of “Tradition” Audio
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Notes:
This past Shabbat I gave the Devar Torah in my parent’s synagogue. Not only was this my first time since leaving my pulpit, but it was also the first time I had to speak in Hebrew. Although I’ve been in Ulpan for a few months, I’m still a long way off from being able to speak like a native, let alone infuse my usual sense of personality into my sermons. Thankfully, I did have help not only from Morfix but from friends who could not only correct grammar mistakes, but also assist with idioms and figures of speech. I take full responsibility for all errors.
The following text is from my working draft, though annotated with footnotes. Given my 7 minute time limit, 1 I had to use more “meivin yavin” textual references rather than provide actual citations.
Enjoy!
Notes:
“What is hateful to you, do not to your neighbour: that is the whole Torah, while the rest is the commentary thereof; go and learn it.” (B. Shabbat 31a)
In the aftermath of the R. Freundel voyeurism scandal, the Orthodox Jewish community has been relentless in its criticism of its current religious establishments. Some have focused their attention on the vulnerability of converts, many of which received a reprieve when the Israeli rabbinate ultimately decided to uphold R. Freundel’s conversions. Others advocated for changes in how a mikvah is operated with Rabbanit Henkin arguing for giving women keys to the mikvah and R. Seth Farber insisting on modifying Jewish conversion law to prohibit men from witnessing a female convert’s immersion.1 Still others targeting the Rabbinic establishment epitomized in this case by the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA).2 Rabbi Marc Angel pointed to the moral deficiencies of Judaism’s gatekeepers and Dr. Erica Brown criticized the lack of rabbinic accountability.3
Naturally, certain members in the very same Rabbinic establishment aggressively defended the status-quo in the face of media “misrepresentations” and activists “hijacking” the scandal to further their own agendas. I have no doubt others perceive the defamation of their institutions to be the result of an unfair generalization, where the entire system is disparaged due to criminal acts of one lone individual.
My concern today is not the propriety of these critical generalizations, but rather the predictability of them occurring after a major scandal. Not only have Jews long engaged in generalized delegitimizations, but this traditional rhetorical stratagem has been repeatedly employed by the current Rabbinic establishment, including, ironically enough, the RCA’s own approach to conversion.
In the wake of Yet Another Rabbinic Scandal, Rabbi Yuter examines the effect of a Rabbi’s actions on his ability to be a source for teaching Torah.
Current Jewish Questions – Flawed and Fallen Rabbis Sources (PDF)
Current Jewish Questions 52 – Flawed and Fallen Rabbis
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By now anyone who would find this website should be familiar with the “Facepalm” and “FAIL” memes. The former is usually a response to a stupid or ignorant statement made with earnestness and sincerity, while the latter generally applies to all sorts of blunders. A few years ago I created a kind of portmanteau of the two, specifically for use in unproductive Jewish religious conversations online which I helpfully dubbed the “Fail Rav” or “#FailRav.” The title picture for the movie Lonely Man of Faith and the book Divrei HaRav, provided a particularly appropriate portrait of R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik for this purpose:
With the help of some meme generators I stamped the requisite “FAIL” subheading and uploaded it to a now defunct image sharing site. Lest the internet lose another irreverent meme, I recreated a collection of Fail Ravs which you’re free to use as you see fit.
Enjoy!
