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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.
The Union for Traditional Judaism (UTJ) is saddened to report the news of the passing of Rabbi Professor Edward Gershfield z”l. Rabbi Gershfield had long been a proponent and supporter of the UTJ and its work to bring Jews closer to observant Judaism and served as its President for several years. Rabbi Gershfield received a Continue Reading »
December 16, 2019 Another shooting. Another act of anti-semitism. Another community in grief. More families sitting in mourning. From a synagogue in Pittsburgh to a Chabad shul in California to the most recent horror – a homicide of three civilians at a kosher market in an emerging Satmar Chasidic community in Jersey City along with Continue Reading »
November 14, 2019 The Union for Traditional Judaism calls upon all Jews, regardless of movement affiliation or non-affiliation, to join in expressing support for the State of Israel at this critical time. We condemn the policy of Islamic Jihad to take retribution for a surgical military strike on a terrorist leader by attacking hundreds of Continue Reading »
Long before the rise of independent minyanim, Open Orthodoxy, and serious textual scholarship in religiously-committed circles, there was the UTJ, a small but passionate group of Rabbis and lay members committed to a principle we coined: Emunah tzerufah v’yosher daat – genuine faith with intellectual honesty. What exactly does that mean? Well, for four decades, the Continue Reading »
UTJ’s Morashah Holds Annual Conferencex Morashah Rabbis with staff from the hosts of the Kallah, The Jewish Home for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Freehold, New Jersey Morashah, the UTJ’s rabbinic fellowship held its annual Kallah (conference) on Monday through Wednesday August 19-21, 2019 in Freehold, New Jersey. The theme of the conference was halakhic methodology. Continue Reading »
Racism is racism, whether it is aimed at Jews, African Americans, Christians, Asians or Muslim. To suggest, through action or inaction, that racist speech aimed at one group must be dealt with strictly, while against another group a slap on the wrist will do, reflects an un-American double standard. Even when the perpetrator is part of a minority, racism is socially poisonous and cannot be tolerated, particularly in the halls of our national legislature.
Update: The source sheet and video of this class is available on the UTJ Viewpoints here. Please join UTJ Vice President Rabbi Noah Gradofsky on Monday, January 14 at 7:30 PM Eastern Time for a shiur (class) on Jewish laws and practices pertaining to nihum avelim (consolation of mourners) on Shabbat. Rabbi Gradofsky is presenting this class in commemoration of the sheloshim, Continue Reading »
A message from UTJ President Rabbi David Novak on the passing of Rabbi Wilfred Shuchat, Z”L. Rabbi Wilfred Shuchat passed away on December 27th. He was married to the late Miriam (nee Sochet) and had four children: Margola Shuchat, Elizabeth Shwartz of blessed memory and her husband Rabbi Yakov Schwartz, Bernard Raphael Shuchat, and Bryna Continue Reading »
The Union for Traditional Judaism (UTJ) expresses its deepest sorrow for the victims of the attack on Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh on Shabbat as well as their families. We express our deep appreciation to all emergency service personnel who responded. We pray that the blessing of peace abide in the United States and that the Almighty protect us all from hate and violence.