halakha

Celebrating Our Daughters: From Simchat Bat to Bat Mitzvah

I had been thinking about my eldest daughter’s bat mitzvah for a long time. We belong to a Modern Orthodox ...

Partnership Minyans and Women’s Aliyot: A Maturing Conversation

Proponents and opponents of Partnership Minyans have jointly fostered a single narrative. In that narrative, the only relevant technical halakhic ...

Contextualizing the Conversation about Women’s Aliyot in the Orthodox Community

Women receiving aliyot (being called to the Torah) in Orthodox synagogues is a relatively new phenomenon. Its most prominent proponents are ...

Take a Stand: Don’t Let Religion Become a Weapon

In Pirkei Avot 2:10 we are taught that Rabbi Eliezer said, יהי כבוד חברך חביב עליך כשלך “Let your neighbor’s dignity be precious ...

Approaching “Niddah” with Radical Openness

I am learning the laws of niddah, laws that relate to menstruation and sexuality, with a group of women. It has ...

The Rabbi In My Bedroom

When I got married, there were a million things on my to-do list. There was one thing, one pretty important ...

A New Day for P’sak

“Question authority!” was the mantra of my peer group when I was coming of age in the late ’60s. How ...

The Growth and Development of an Independent, Observant Minyan

Kol Sasson Congregation was founded in Skokie, Illinois in 2003 as a Shira Hadasha-style minyan. At first, we met on ...

A Shabbat of Learning, Prayer, and Growth at UPenn

This summer, I had the privilege of attending a conference about Partnership Minyanim, hosted by Shira Hadasha in Jerusalem. I ...

Sex and Modern Orthodox Singles: Between Halakha and Reality

I was a Girl Scout for ten years, from 3rd-12th grade. I learned how to start a fire, cook for ...