Category Archives: Marc B. Shapiro

Almost Every Gadol Of The Early 20th Century Had A Child Who Left The Path

In his third lecture on Rav Elazar Schach for Torah in Motion, historian Marc B. Shapiro says that Rav Schach’s son became a religious Zionist aka Modern Orthodox as opposed to Chareidi aka traditional Orthodox (who are not Zionists, don’t … Continue reading

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Rabbi Shlomo Goren – The Last Champion Of A Dynamic Halacha

From Marc B. Shapiro‘s lectures on Torah in Motion: From Dr. Shapiro’s third lecture on R. Shlomo Goren: "Rabbi Shlomo Goren was machmir (strict) on many mitzvos. He wouldn’t carry within the eruv in Jerusalem." "When his term ended in … Continue reading

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The Significance Of Lamm Over Rackman

Shalom Auslander‘s memoir would not have been as juicy if his Uncle Norman did not run YU. Professor Marc B. Shapiro blogs: No one has yet written an article focusing on the Rackman-Lamm contest for election to the presidency of … Continue reading

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The Lenient Approach To Conversion To Orthodox Judaism

Professor Marc B. Shapiro blogs: In fact, throughout most of Jewish history a lenient approach to conversion was the mainstream approach. Now it is true that R. Herzog famously states that in earlier times one could be more lenient than … Continue reading

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Where’s The Love For Emmanuel Rackman and Eliezer Berkovitz?

Professor Marc B. Shapiro blogs: David Singer recently wrote an interesting article on Rabbi Emanuel Rackman.[3] With the recent passing of Rabbi Moses Mescheloff,[4] Rackman, born in 1910, might be the oldest living musmach of RIETS. If this is so, … Continue reading

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OU Certifies Toilet Bowl Cleaner As Kosher

I am greatly relieved as I always enjoyed a cup of this cleaner every morning (it is cheaper than orange juice and more effective in promoting my digestion). Professor Marc B. Shapiro blogs: In a previous post I showed a … Continue reading

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Better To Be Reform Than Secular?

Professor Marc B. Shapiro blogs: Returning to my conversation with R. Hayyim Sarne, which began with a discussion on Weinberg and moved into other areas, I was at his home for a good while and asked him many things. I … Continue reading

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The Agony Of Rabbi Jechiel Yaakov Weinberg

Professor Marc B. Shapiro blogs: Yet while Weinberg wanted to live as a more modern type of rabbi, one who was a Zionist and academic scholar in addition to being a Torah sage, he wanted to be remembered as a … Continue reading

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Torah Scholars Stuck Behind The Iron Curtain

Professor Marc B. Shapiro blogs: R. Shemariah was one of many great talmidei hakhamim who were stuck behind the Iron Curtain, and even if not killed by the regime, lived out their days in what can only be described as … Continue reading

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Falling Into Sin

I heard a lot of perplexing things during two years of Daf Yomi but none more perplexing than the case of the man who fell off a roof and into sex with a woman. What an acrobat, I thought. Then there’s the … Continue reading

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