Iran’s Growing Missile Might
Even a failed attack suggests a growing threat.
July 11, 2017
A New Book Marks a Trend of Orthodox Jews Embracing New Age Fads
A ḥaredi rabbi endorses quackery.
In his recently published Alternative Medicine in Halakhah, Rephoel Szmerla, an American ultra-Orthodox rabbi, makes the case that homeopathy, energy healing, and various other irregular medical treatments are not only permitted by Jewish law but in many cases superior—on religious grounds—to scientific medicine. To Ben Rothke, Szmerla’s embrace of “alternative medicine” is an affront to traditional talmudic reasoning and typical of a disturbing growth in certain Orthodox circles of enthusiasm for New Age thinking. Rothke contrasts Szmerla’s specious arguments for the efficacy of various therapies he promotes with the approach to scientific expertise taken by leading 20th-century rabbinic authorities:
July 11, 2017
How East Germany and the West German Left Waged War on Israel
Coming to terms with the Nazi past, Communist style.
The Latest Victim of BDS? An Israeli Anti-War Play
Artists against art.
A New Book Marks a Trend of Orthodox Jews Embracing New Age Fads
A ḥaredi rabbi endorses quackery.
A One-of-a-Kind Depiction of Jonah and the Whale, Found in an Ancient Synagogue
Another discovery from the Ḥuqoq mosaics.