Author: David Rutman

Photo Credit: FLASH90 Dec. 25, 2019 Imam Mohamad Joban Advertisement ‘); _avp.push({ tagid: article_top_ad_tagid, alias: ‘/’, type: ‘banner’, zid: ThisAdID, pid: 16, onscroll: 0 }); Masjid Ar-Rahmah Redmond, Washington Dear Imam Joban, I was enlightened to learn that Jews were turned into apes for failing to believe in Allah. Would this explain why Jews eat […]

Photo Credit: Mendy Hechtman/FLASH90 A page of Gemara Although January 1 is an important date on the secular calendar, it usually has little significance in the Torah community. Other than getting used to writing a different number on checks and having an extra day off (in chutz la’aretz), it generally does not engender much excitement. […]

Photo Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90 Ayelet Shaked and Bezalel Smotrich, the favorites to lead Habayit Hayehudi and New Right parties respectively. Senior New Right officials on Sunday told Reshet Bet radio that they are not ruling out a last-minute union with their three sister right-wing parties, Habayit Hayehudi, which is already running together with Otzma Yehudit, […]

Photo Credit: wikimedia The Maccabees receive their father’s blessing to wage war against their Greek oppressors.  Twitter Chanukah. Most of what you read online about Chanukah falls into the category of bad fiction, domains of the anti-Chanukah. To understand why this is so, we  need to understand how Torah ideals degenerated over the centuries. The […]

[embedded content] A black attacker armed with a machete on Saturday night stabbed five Jews at Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg’s home at 49 Forshay Rd in Monsey, New York, and ran away, in an attack that followed a dozen anti-Semitic assaults on religious Jewish men, women and children (two assault victims were 6 and 7, one […]

Photo Credit: Courtesy Hanukiyah created by world famous Venetian Glass Blower Maestro Gianni Toso {Originally posted to The Lid website} Jews across the world are now celebrating Chanukah. What most people (even Jews) know about Chanukah is either wrong, half the story, or peppered with charming untrue legends. Despite what you may have been told,  […]

Photo Credit: Google Maps Rabbi Rottenberg’s Shul on Monsey, NY Multiple people have been wounded in a stabbing attack in Rabbi Chaim Rottenburg’s (Rottenberg) shul, Netzach Yisrael, on Forshay Road in Monsey, NY, on Saturday night. The attack began in the Rabbi’s home, which is adjoined to the synagogue. The Chassidic community had gathered to […]

Photo Credit: Jewish Press I’ve spent over three decades in the classroom – in one capacity or another. I have learned, taught, mentored, and observed. Recently, I came across a book that speaks to those who are teachers – and those who are tasked with teaching the next generation in and outside of the classroom. […]

“We cannot rely on an election to solve our problems.” — Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), House Judiciary Committee chairman, Dec. 11, 2019, on the need to impeach U.S. President Donald Trump “Every legal precedent must begin at some point. … So, just because it involves the prime minister, we should delay the precedent for another time?” […]