YUTOPIA

Last Saturday night I gave a class as part of the Jewish LES discussion series on the very topic of "Halakhic Ramifications of Eruv Disputes." Most of the class was an abbreviation of my earlier three part series on eruvin in general.

The issue of eruv on the Lower East Side is particularly contentious. R. Moshe Feinstein, a preeminent decisor of Jewish Law, used to live on the Lower East Side and his son and many students of his still do so. R. Feinstein was particularly strict in prohibiting the construction on any eruv in Manhattan for reasons too complicated to discuss here, and it is allegedly out of allegiance to R. Feinstein's position on eruv which has precluded its construction to this day.

However, R. Moshe Feinstein has another fascinating responsa regarding the opposition of eruvin in Manhattan, though in conversation it is rarely quoted by his most ardent followers. In response to the question if one ought to protest constructing eruvin in Manhattan, R. Feinstein states that while he personally cannot endorse it, one should not oppose it either since the positions allowing its construction are still legitimate. By all accounts this ought to be considered a very reasonable, respectful position and were it stated 30 years later might even be classified as "pluralistic."

Here is the responsa in the original with my translation, for which I assume responsibility for errors.

Regarding the "Kol Korei" issue see this wonderful post form Eruv Online.

Anyone who has heard my sermons knows that I like spicing up my talks with various non-religious references from popular and obscure culture. Perhaps my best/worst line was the following analogy: "The Jewish community is like Soylent Green - it's made of people."

I didn't say they were always funny, but they do make sense in context.

Sometimes people get the references, other times they don't, but I've taken the attitude that I'm just going to drop what I can and let people pick up what they may.

So I'd like to try something new as a challenge. This week I'll actually take requests - you tell me what references to make (the general the better), and I'll try working it into a coherent sermon.

In other words, hit me with your best shot, and I'll hit you with my best peshat:

In my religious and academic lives I have an affinity for tracking down the original sources of ideas. Not surprisingly, this trait extends to other areas of geekdom including music. While there are no shortage of cover songs - with more coming every day - there are times when the cover version so completely overshadows the original that only few know whence it came.

In the interests of promoting music education, I've collected some of my favorite lost originals.

Preface

As part of a New Year's intellectual cleaning, I came across this post which I had intended to post on my birthday. This was actually the first year I didn't post anything since I started YUTOPIA nearly 6 years ago. As for many people, past year has not been the easiest for me on multiple personal levels. While I will not elaborate on most here, the year is ending with me coming out of a long relationship and reentering the tumultuous waters of Jewish dating. This recent emotional adjustment, though unpleasant, has been a motivating factor for reevaluating and revising the thrust of the overdue post below.

Being far removed from my alma mater, it is difficult for me to truly have a sense of what happens on campus anymore and second-hand reports fail to adequately capture the full zeitgeist of the community. The most recent controversy around Yeshiva University involves a forum on "Being Gay in the Orthodox World" and the expected. The topic of homosexuality in Orthodox Judaism has long been a controversial issue, one which we discussed years ago in "Lonely Men of Faith, but it is still considered taboo in certain Orthodox circles. Case in point, following said forum R. Meir Twersky responded with a public diatribe lambasting the entire event and its participants. This forum and the aftermath are helpfully recounted in great detail on Curious Jew's blog. Since I did not attend the event nor did I hear R. Twersky's statements firsthand I will not address either specifically. However, that such a controversy exists demonstrates that even after 123 YU is still struggling with its own identity as a "Yeshiva", "University", and a representative if not champion for "Modern Orthodoxy."

Halakhic Logic for Waiting One Hour Between Meat and Dairy

I'll skip the usual apologies for neglecting the blog; I'm a "part time" Rabbi and I've always believed that real life takes precedence over virtual life. Actually I think I've fulfilled my "virtual" requirements quite nicely on my Twitter feed.¹ Case in point, one Twitter conversation discussed the halakhic topic of waiting to eat dairy foods after consuming meat. There are varying cultural traditions regarding the length one must wait ranging from one to six hours but the minimum time of waiting only one hour is the least commonly observed practice. The reason for this phenomenon is likely the result of social factors - a cultural affinity towards selective stringencies being one of many- than legal hermeneutic. (The support for longer waiting periods certainly has halakhic support with Rambam (Ma'achalot Assurot 9:28) and Shulhan Aruch (O.C. 89:1) stipulating a 5-6 hour waiting period but Ashkenazi Jews follow these authorities inconsistently). In this post I will argue that the minimum position of waiting one hour, typically not considered normative, maintains halakhic validity.

My 9:00am Sunday morning shiur at The Stanton St. Shul has been discussing as of late topics in Mahchsevet Hazal / Rabbinic Thought and Theology. In today's class we were discussing various sources regarding Gehenom / Hell (PDF) in the Rabbinic tradition and we came across a fascinating contradiction in the thought of one of the Sages.

Yesterday morning I was one of 1,000 Rabbis listening in on a conference call with President Obama on the hot button issue of heath care reform. The call was organized by coalition of Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist organizatoins including
The Central Conference of American Rabbis, Union for Reform Judaism, Rabbinical Assembly, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, and coordinated by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

Technically speaking I'm not sure I'm "supposed" to write about the call. The intent of the call was less informative on Obama's position, but more for the Rabbis to explore how to address the health care controversy in their upcoming High Holiday sermons. (In a nice move by Obama's handler's he began his health care discussion by referencing unetaneh tokef). Nevertheless there were point which I took away from the call that I feel are worth sharing with the public at large.