IJII

Of Woodchoppers, Respirators, and Flickering Flames: Halakhic Considerations in End-of-Life Situations

By Rabbi Aryeh Klapper, Dean of the Center for Modern Torah Leadership, member of the Boston Beth Din, and Instructor in Rabbinics at Gann Academy

“And G-d saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good” -

In the Torah of Rabbi Meir they found written: “And behold it was very good” – behold how good is death. (Bereshit Rabbah 9:5)

Introduction

Retroactive Annulment of Giyyur (Conversion)?

By Dr. Zvi Zohar, Chauncey Stillman Professor of Sephardic Law and Ethics at Bar-Ilan University, and Senior Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.

I will begin by presenting a fictitious case, closer perhaps to current halakhic reality in certain circles than many would like to believe:

RABBINIC FELLOWSHIP--A NEW INITIATIVE FOR ORTHODOX RABBIS

by Rabbi Marc D. Angel

Orthodox Judaism has been growing more extreme and authoritarian. This tendency has manifested itself in many ways, including a strong shift "to the right" in the rabbinate as well as the community at large.

THE PROSELYTE WHO COMES[1]

by Rabbi Dr. Isaac Sassoon

(Rabbi Dr. Isaac Sassoon is a faculty member at the Metivta, the Institute of Traditional Judaism. Among his publications is his commentary on Torah, "Destination Torah.")

By David J. Balint

Kollels have sprouted across the Jewish world, including North America. Often they are sponsored by a particular Yeshiva. Sometimes a local Orthodox community establishes a kollel hoping to promote outreach and to supplement income of rabbis needed to teach in the local day schools not in need of full time rabbinic teachers. This is the case in Seattle. More rarely, such as in Cleveland, the local community actually recruits highly qualified Zionistic young rabbis to revitalize and strengthen modern Orthodox, centrist institutions. The following represents a synopsis of the issues facing the Seattle Orthodox community since it invited a kollel into its midst in 1991.