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Off The Derech Community writes Halachic Guidelines

In the early 90′s when the Kids At Risk movement began it wasn’t anything to get too excited over, basically a bunch of yeshiva kids with ADHD who would roam from yeshiva to yeshiva until they hit the end of the line  at Rudinsky, Hamilton, Rochester or Adelphi. When they were done with school, they would hang out in pool ...

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The Power of the Bat Mitzvah

When I was brought on board at the Lev LaLev Fund in May 2011, I was asked if I could run the bat mitzvah project program. I thought, sure, how hard could it be? I was once a bat mitzvah girl too after all. Yet, a year later, as I was writing about the 15th anniversary of my own bat mitzvah ...

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When Do We Become ‘Women?’

When do you become a woman? As in, someone that your friend or colleague actually refers to as a “woman.” It is is certainly not after your Bat Mitzvah (will get back to that later), nor is it when you graduate from high school, or even college.Today, the age of a woman who most of us feel comfortable calling a ...

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Guess What’s Being Taught in my Sunday School Class?

A few weeks ago, on the Sunday before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I posed a question to the students in my class on “Jews and the Civil Rights Movement”: “If you could plan a Jewish commemoration for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, what would it be? Who would be the audience? What would you do? Why should Jews, as ...

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Purim 2013 Gift Guide

Purim 2013 is on its way! Starting the evening of Saturday, February 23rd, the holiday that celebrates the clever salvation of Persia’s Jews is nearly upon us. Are you ready to make some noise, get dressed up, give gifts, and donate to charity? Don’t worry; we can help.Make Some Noise / GroggersThe classic Purim accessory is a noisemaker, used to ...

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Love Me or Drop Dead: A Psycho-Talmudic Inquiry into Calderon’s Choice of her Knesset Talmudic Passage

Somewhere on the road between quirky and bizarre, Ruth Calderon chose a passage from the Talmud to present in her inaugural address as a member of the Knesset in Israel. The passage talks about the consequences to men who fail in their obligation to have sex frequently enough with their wives. See our previous post for the video of the ...

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Blessed Are you Lord Who Has Not Made Me a Woman!

The bracha of shelo asani isha is probably one of the only prayers we say on a daily basis that most folks can agree with. Amidst all of those prayers about redemption, incense, fear of the Lord, and sacrifices it’s nice to know that we have some that really make sense. I’ve never wanted to be a woman and most dudes ...

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Breaking the Modern Orthodox Glass Ceiling

Recently, The Jewish Week published an article by Rabbi Dan Friedman about the roles of women in modern Orthodoxy. The article, entitled “Female Orthodox Rabbis? We Already Have Them,” argues that as women pursue the chance to become rabbis in some modern Orthodox circles, they undermine the influential roles women have in modern Orthodoxy, such as the learned and spiritual rebbetzin or ...

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The Sweet Success of a Jewish Baker and Businesswoman

Chocolate Snowball. Toasted Coconut. Blackout. Raspberry Swirl. Peanut Butter Cup. White Hot Chocolate. Baba Booey. It’s hard to choose just one!These are some of the offerings at Crumbs, a wildly successful chain of kosher cupcake stores founded by Mia Bauer. Israeli-born Bauer graduated from Brandeis in 1991 and went to work as a lawyer for the City of New York. ...

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You Are What You Wear: Modesty of Dress

One of the highlights of the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Jewish Camping Conference a year ago was the chance for me to get to know Nancy Lublin. I had learned about Nancy several years earlier after reading an article about her mitzvah project that turned into a successful nonprofit company.I spoke with Nancy, CEO of Do Something for the past ...

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New York Times Merges With Tzvee’s Talmudic Blog

The New York Times announced that it has merged with Tzvee’s Talmudic Blog to form “The New York Times Talmudic Blog.”The Times was already known as a premier Jewish newspaper in the city with high visibility Jewish editorial writers like Tom Friedman, Roger Cohen and Paul Krugman and Israeli news bureau chief Jodi Rudroren.“We lacked Talmudic depth of analysis,” said ...

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Money Making Faux-Mishloash Manot

The president of my shul called me this evening, furious that I did not participate in the shul’s mishloach manot program. “Reb Telz” he says “Why are you not on the list?  We are packing the bags, reviewing the mailed-in sheets, you are not participating! What’s wrong?”Our shul mails out a 3-page checklist of all the shul members to everyone ...

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