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Enjoying a flourish of new activity over the past several years, the Union for Traditional Judaism has named Rabbi Scott Kalmikoff as coordinator to drive the organization’s growing activities and bolster its membership and fundraising abilities.
The Union for Traditional Judaism mourns the recent passing of Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Deeply rooted in the authentic Jewish tradition, Rabbi Sacks’ brilliant eloquence on fundamental religious and moral issues has had a profound influence on Jews and non-Jews everywhere. His faithful wisdom not only spoke to us, but also spoke for us. We Continue Reading »
The UTJ seeks a part-time coordinator to assist in our efforts and maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of our mostly volunteer organization.
The UTJ is proud to share that its president, Rabbi David Novak, was awarded the 2020 Canadian Jewish Literary Award in Scholarship for his book Athens and Jerusalem: God, Humans, and Nature. The press release announcing the award can be found here and the award ceremony will be streamed from the Canadian Jewish Literary Award Continue Reading »
We write to remind you to join the UTJ for 5781 if you have not already done so and also to share some Torah created by UTJ Rabbis over the high holiday season. …
5780 was, for all of us, a very trying year. Rabbi Jeffrey Miller finds inspiration for the future in the last words of the Torah, which we completed on Simhat Torah, as well as from the words traditionally recited after the Torah is completed – Chazak, Chazak, V’nitchazek. “Be strong, Be strong, and Let us strengthen others.” …
Thank you for your past generosity, and we hope you can continue to support the UTJ and our mission of אמונה צרופה ויושר דעת – Genuine Faith and Intellectual Honesty. To become a member for 5781, please go to utj.org/join-us. To make any other contribution, please go to utj.org/donate/. You can also mail your membership or general donation to:
Below are items recently posted on UTJ Viewponts as seen on the UTJ Facebook page. From here, you can follow links to the particular article or video on Viewpoints and you can also share, comment on, and like the Facebook posts to help spread the word about items you find interesting and important.
Please see https://utj.org/viewpoints/videos/minyanim-in-the-post-covid-era-thurs-5-21-8pm-webinar-with-rabbi-david-novak/ for video of this event. As cities and states begin to open up, the issue of how synagogues can safely conduct their minyanim and shiurim in the wake of the pandemic is of paramount importance. Rabbi David Novak, President of the UTJ and J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Professor of the Study of Continue Reading »
Although the desire to engage in “appropriately socially distanced” ritual is understandable, we believe that halacha calls for a different approach. Halacha is famous for applying a great deal of stricture “lest one thing lead to another.” The very first mishnah of Pirkei Avot teaches עשו סייג לתורה – make a fence around the Torah — and rabbinic literature is replete with praise for those who act לפנים משורת הדין – beyond the letter of the law. …
[W]e believe that the right approach to social distancing is to do our best to avoid all nonessential public interactions lest those interactions lead to dangerous failures of social distancing. We should all be erring on the side of caution in this regard.
The UTJ is deeply concerned by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s singling out of the Jewish community for criticism of large gatherings in violation of both the city and state’s social distancing mandates.