Libi BaMizrach

This essay starts on a personal note. I heard the sad news a few days ago of the passing of a person I have known and loved virtually all of my life, “Auntie” Miriam Elias ע"ה. She was truly a remarkable human being – one might have called her a “Renaissance Woman” – as she excelled in so many different areas. She was first and foremost an educator and teacher of thousands of students over her long career. She was also an extremely gifted and prolific artist, a published author of many books, and a scholar who was the first student at the famed seminary in Gateshead. In short, she was a role model and trailblazer for many women, using her rare combination of wisdom, grace, and spunky sense of fun to light up the lives of all who had the privilege of knowing her. I could go on and write a whole hesped and full description of how sorely she will be missed . . . but that is not the point of this essay. Rather, I was moved to write this essay by the obituary tha...

The Supreme Court has spoken. In Obergefell v.Hodges , the Court announced that Homosexual couples (hereinafter LGBT) have a “fundamental right of dignity” to marry each other, and this “fundamental right” must be upheld by all levels of state and federal government. As this decision has many possible implications for the Orthodox Jewish community, the major organizations, including Agudath Israel , the Orthodox Union , and the RCA have issued warnings of dangers to come. Some are afraid of the moral implications in this major departure from the Judeo/Christian values upon which our country was founded. Others fear that Justice Alito's prescient warning that it " will be used to vilify Americans who are unwilling to assent to the new orthodoxy. In the course of its opinion, the majority compares traditional marriage laws to laws that denied equal treatment for African-Americans and women. The implications of this analogy will be exploited by those who are d...