יום רביעי, ח׳ אב תשפ״וWednesday, July 22, 2026
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Rav Steven Pruzansky is Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun (Teaneck, NJ), Senior Research Associate at the Jerusalem Center for Applied Policy (JCAP.ngo), and author of the Chumash commentary “The Jewish Ethic of Personal Responsibility” (Geffen).
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Victory is going to require more than slogans that “together we will win.”
Terrorist organizations across the world exploit the liberties and freedoms of democracies to bankroll their cruel operations, promote their evil agendas, and recruit the next generation of terrorists.
No one should be allowed to live here who does not want to be here, in the Jewish state
The principle is obvious: no person should be forced to use his or her creative abilities to promote something they deem abhorrent.
American Jewish leaders profess to support a Jewish and democratic Israel. Yet they blithely oppose legislation that would make the State of Israel more Jewish and more democratic.
It is hard to refute the fact that the American exile has been the stopover most amenable to fulfilling the Gemara’s teaching (Pesachim 87b) that G-d only exiled the Jewish people among the nations of the world so that we should gather in converts.
For sure, a left-wing government – Jewish in name but not practice or values – plays better in America
Is it possible to stem the tide of assimilation that is ravaging Diaspora Jewry?
Yom Kippur, just like the Kotel, should unite all Jews and reflect our highest religious aspirations
The great drama of Jewish history – a nation exiled from its homeland due to its sins, only to be promised by G-d that its sovereignty would be restored at the end of days – has played out before our eyes…
America today is not the America of two, twenty or forty years ago.... Israelis must recognize that and not live in the nostalgia of the past.
Don’t create anarchy in kashrut, conversion, marriage or divorce – even in the name of the dubious value of competition.
Was Lot the first Modern Orthodox Jew? He kept what he kept, nothing more, and resented being judged. He felt that his immersion in the local culture was permissible as long as he committed no overt sins and thus rationalized his conduct as still faithful to his upbringing. Ideology and especially values were secondary to the technical performances that he, for the most part, still observed
The Apollo 11 astronauts were flying into uncharted territory. All precautions were taken, but the slightest mishap could have taken their lives.
Female clergy is the “mechitza” of our generation. The fact of the matter is that female clergy is simply not a Torah concept, and no amount of lobbying, social media posts, and angry faces on Facebook will change that. Torah doesn’t work that way.
The decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital should be perceived as a reaffirmation of the victory of Chanukah, which, after all, celebrated the liberation by Jews from the Hellenists of the city of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple that radical Arabs and haters of Israel today (including Arafat and his followers, and UNESCO and their fellow travelers) deny ever had any connection to the Jewish people.
What Tzipi Hotovely said is absolutely true. It is not her but what she stands for that irritates those engaged in smearing her, like Rick Jacobs , head of the Reform movement. She is a constant reminder of what they too could have if only they would return to the honest study of Torah and the true observance of mitzvot
It is a world in need of atonement, which means a redirection of its energies and objectives.
So we dance, and do hakafot with the Torah in appreciation and gratitude for the divine gift to the Jewish people.
Religious man struggles first with maintaining the daily commitment but then with infusing that commitment with vitality and enthusiasm.
Both rape and being falsely accused of rape are life-altering events; in both cases the victims deserve our fullest support, the victimizers our unmitigated opprobrium.
Perhaps we were better off when we were less sophisticated and just lived with emunah peshutah.
One of Obama’s few accomplishments as Pres. was substantially lowered the bar for future aspirants.
When they fight against us, it is because they are waging war against the Jewish idea.
Is there a link between baseball & Judaism? Seems so; several prominent rabbis & RY were big fans
Pesach is a Torah-based holiday whose fundamental observances are rooted in Torah law; Purim is a rabbinic holiday whose laws and customs are grounded in the rabbinic tradition.
The travail of Yosef was undoubtedly the greatest trauma of Yaakov’s life, which certainly knew its share of hardships.
The brilliance of Yaakov’s approach – and by extension, any type of individual or group effort – is that it appealed to three different modes of salvation.
There is a certain unwordliness to the pope’s call for a two-state solution, an obliviousness to the reality on the ground.
One can’t only take; one must give as well. Giving – not taking – is the essence of the righteous person.
Much of what we know about 19th century Orthodoxy is false, including the provenance of the term Orthodox.
A president who today used the language of FDR or JFK would be derided. If he were a candidate, the media elites would bury his chances of winning the election. He would be a laughing stock to the aimless young people whose uninformed opinions on public affairs seem to matter more than they should.
With the constant drumbeat of articles about “Orthodox” female rabbis appearing in the media almost weekly – essentially the same articles making the same points to the same eager audience, all to make the phenomenon of such “rabbis” seem commonplace – it is important to take a step back and examine how we arrived at this destination.
The Wall Street Journal last month featured a front-page article titled “After These Jewish Prayer Services, Things Come ‘To Life’ at Open Bar,” with the sub-heading, “To Woo Worshippers, Synagogues Compete with Food and Booze.”
In the wake of the presidential election, American Jews must once again ask a fundamental question that seems to defy both societal trends and a clear resolution: why do Jews overwhelmingly support the Democratic candidate, year after year, election after election?
The notion of the “Reagan Democrat” is one cliché that should be permanently retired.
The forthcoming debate over an updated Tal Law – the parameters for service by haredim in the Israel Defense Forces – is liable to become heated and nasty. Mutual accusations will be hurled, with one group asserting that mandatory military service is part of an ill-disguised war against Torah and the other side seeking an equal sharing of the defense burdens that fall on most other Israelis.
The Midrash (Shemot Rabbah 18:12) describes “leil shimurim,” the “night of watching,” the night before the redemption, as one of the glorious nights in Jewish history.
Consider the absurdity of the following statement: “I know an Orthodox Jew who works on Shabbat, eats pork regularly, never wears tefillin or prays or learns Torah, is unfaithful to his spouse, walks bare-headed in public, and eats on Yom Kippur.”
July 17, 2026 
