Op-Ed By Rabbi Dovid Eliezrie: "Unfortunately, the conversation on COLlive.com between Rabbis Shmuley Boteach and Yoseph Korf fails on many counts to take a responsible approach to the questions that face us as a community." Full Story
The Crown Heights Chaos
Op-Ed by Rabbi Joseph Korf: The recent op-ed insisting that the Rebbe's desire was to push democracy is not only absurd on its face but a total mischaracterization. The reason Crown Heights is in the morass it finds itself is precisely because of its so-called democracy. Full Story
Catskills Have Shabbos Too
Op-Ed by Rabbi Shea Hecht: Erev Shabbos is always a harried time, especially for those who are headed to a bungalow colony or a summer home. A family who left late on Friday afternoon called us panicked after an erev Shabbos "miracle" didn't happen. Full Story
“I am the Lubavitcher Rebbe”
Op-Ed: "I am a Chosid. I am a Rav. I am a Misnagid. I am a Rosh Yeshivah. I am frum. I am not yet frum. I am a Jew. I am the Lubavitcher Rebbe." Full Article
The Risks of Summer
Op-Ed: The Catskills - about as close to Gan Eden as we can get. Fresh mountain air, no congestion, wide open spaces. We can hardly wait for the summer. But during these months, parents must remain vigilant to the dangers that lurk everywhere, writes Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski. Full Article
What’s With Crown Heights?
Anonymous Op-Ed: "When one leader doesn't like the other's opinion he calls his own elections, or disqualifies the elections. Or better yet, opens his own organization. Ever wondered why is democracy so successful in the USA and yet it is so dismally failing in Africa or in Crown Heights? Full Story
I am Frum and Attractive
Op-Ed: "Some of our most honored and beloved matriarchs in the scriptures were noted for their beauty. Hashem gave woman her vanity for a reason: So she could attract a mate. And I mean attract," writes Claire Grunwald. Full Article
We’re Losing Mesivta Bochurim
Anonymous Op-Ed: Would it be fair to say that Mesivta bochurim do not graduate a class because they have mastered the knowledge, but merely because they have grown a year older? Full Article
“They All Must Go”
Anonymous OP-ED: "Something is just not working in Crown Heights. We are beset by problems of children going off the derech, of adults who are barely hanging on physically as well as spiritually, of rising crime, and of a general atmosphere of decline." Full Article
“Why We All Need To Vote”
OP-ED: Our "leaders" are failures, and the only way to fix up this community is do it by ourselves and not rely on the "leadership." If we just look the other way without protesting, then we deserve what we get, writes Michoel Chazan, former Chairman the Crown Heights Vaad Hakohol. Full Story
A “Letter to My Supporters”
Anonymous OP-ED: This is what I would tell my supporters, as a contestant in the Vaad Hakhol elections. It is purely hypothetical, as I unfortunately cannot see the value of spending time and effort in running for a seat, being that there is so much politics, name-calling and smearing going on. Full Article
A Wasted ‘Mazal Tov’ Wish
OP-ED: You run into a wedding to wish your best to the celebrating families. You push your way through the crush of people to the father of the bride and say "mazal tov." There's a very strong possibility that an acknowledgment is not being registered, writes Rabbi Shea Hecht. Full Story
Why Shluchim Don’t Whine
Op-Ed: The economic storm has taken its toll on charitable giving, particularly on hard-hit Jewish institutions. Among them Chabad and its thousands of schools, camps and synagogues has weathered more than its fair share of the damage, writes Rabbi Shea Hecht. Full Article
You Know How to be a Mother?
Op-Ed: To become a healthy mother, you first need to be a daughter and sister. Only when you have received that unconditional nurture as a child, can you then imbue others with that unshakable sense of confidence and love, writes Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson. Full Story
Chumros Alert!
OP-ED: Anyone that ever spent Pesach as a guest knows that it is nothing close to a festival of freedom. The amount of 'chumros' piled up in orthodox and frum homes amounts to Pharaoh's decrees in ancient Egypt. Full Story
OP-ED: What to Tell Children
When tragedy hits close to home, we need not expose our young children to every detail. We must bear in mind that a child may make inferences and draw conclusions that we never even dreamed of, even with all of our sensitivity. Generally, the more the issue can be obscured, the better - Rabbi Shea Hecht writes. Full Article
OP-ED: Someone Else’s Kid
For all of the good, and all the kedusha that shlichus brings into the world, are we giving our blood, sweat and tears to reach and educate "someone else's" child while neglecting the education of our own children? Rabbi Shea Hecht ponders Full Article
OP-ED: Postville’s Real Victims
The downfall of Agri will do more than just destroy the town of Postville. The chain effect from such a large kosher company closing is enormous. Dozens of butcher shops, groceries and restaurants across the country will be forced out of business leaving hundreds jobless, writes Yaacov Behrman. Full Story
Op-Ed: On Being a Chossid
Chassidus says that one of the tactics of the kelipa of Amalek is to come in a "silk kapote" and try to discourage the Jew from becoming excited about a miracle story. He says: "Big deal! Why are you so excited? Of course Hashem can perform a miracle—he created the world and has absolute power over it!" Full Article
Op-Ed: Star-dust
COLlive presents the weekly Jewish Thought in Simple Words series by Getzy Markowitz. In this week's column the author discusses the Rubashkin family and the Jews who have abandoned them. Read More
Op-Ed: Campaign Strategy
Ready for a quiz? Naftali Silberberg selected a few quotes from recent campaign speeches by the two presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. Can you guess who said what? Full Opinion
