Natan Slifkin's Blog

The other day I saw someone observe that if a polar bear spent time at both the North and South Poles, and had a psychological condition that caused it to experience extreme mood swings, and was attracted to both males and females of its species, then it would be a bi-polar bipolar bi polar bear. I love this sort of wordplay, but my best attempt to match it is to write a post about how dinosaurs (as in the extinct creatures that we love) have become dinosaurs (as in something obsolete) - at leas...

I might have (thankfully) been wrong about how Hamas would not release all the hostages, but I was right about the charedim refusing to give credit to the IDF for this incredible result. But I was right for the wrong reasons. Here’s the statement that Agudas Yisrael just put out:

It’s not that, as I said yesterday, they are so anti-rationalist that they refuse to give credit to any human endeavor. They are perfectly happy to express appreciation to Trump (who does indeed deserve our gratitude). B...

Nearly all of us are hoping that this deal goes through, that the hostages will be returned to their families, even at the cost of releasing terrorists and making it more challenging to destroy Hamas, since getting all the hostages back any other way seems impossible, and further fighting Hamas has diminishing returns and comes at immense cost. (I write “nearly all” because Ben-Gvir, Smotrich and most of the others from their parties voted against the deal and thus presumably want it to fall thr...

Yoeli Landau, the mega-wealthy Satmar tycoon and philanthropist from New York, is the subject of a recent feature article in Mishpacha magazine, titled “Declaration of Independence.” The article presents his philosophy, which is a fascinating cocktail of values - modern American materialism given a Jewish spin, positive Chazal-based values that go against charedi trends,and horrible anti-Israel values.

The modern American dream is financial success and material wealth. Landau has aced that one. ...

How do you make headway with the seemingly impossible task of persuading the charedi world that their opposition to civic responsibilities is wrong, harmful, dangerous, and anti-Torah?

A few weeks ago, I reported on the remarkable initiative of the woman who managed to get into the Keren Olam HaTorah philanthropist’s retreat and spread literature showing the important truths that the organization tries to hide from its donors. I’ve thought of other creative ways in which outreach could be done w...

Several people recently asked me about the theological challenge of the esrog - the citron.

The Torah does not use the word esrog. It tells us to take a pri etz hadar, which literally means a beautiful fruit of a tree. The Talmud asks how we know that this refers to the esrog. The Sages respond by presenting various exegeses of how the phrase pri etz hadar refers to the esrog.

It may come as a surprise to some (though it is becoming increasingly well-known) that the esrog is not native to the Lan...

When Yom Kippur ended, we learned about the terrible attack on Jews at a synagogue in the city where I grew up, Manchester. Two people were killed and three wounded. Rabbi Daniel Walker, an old schoolmate of mine pictured below, acted courageously in preventing even more deaths.

In the aftermath, many people are saying that responsibility lies with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose government has been tolerant of violent Israelopathic protests, along with the rise of Islamist rhetoric in the UK...

Yom Kippur is a time for repentance, for confessing all the wrongs that we have committed against others, and seeking to change our behavior towards them. Are the dozens of sins listed in the Al Cheits sufficiently encompassing? The text has been canonized for centuries. Still, a penitent person should certainly add repentance for further sins if he feels that he has not been sufficiently remorseful for them. Actually adding to the canonized text is a little less Orthodox, yet still understandab...

In his annual address to the Mir Yeshiva, Rav Dov Landau, the current charedi “Gadol HaDor,” just declared as follows:

“It is the duty of all those who do not study to show gratitude day and night to those who do learn Torah. It is only thanks to their learning that they are able to live here. Even if there are those who do not understand this, or do not wish to understand it, this is the truth the entire community owes its life to the kollel scholars and the yeshiva students who devote themselve...

Before today’s post, a request: We’ve acquired some amazing additional very rare Noah’s Arks for our “Art of the Ark” exhibit at the Biblical Museum of Natural History, which is undergoing an expansion. But we need some help transporting them carefully from where they are currently being held, in some cases to NY/NJ from where our shipper can transport them, and in some cases to Israel. Please be in touch if you can transport any of the following:

Small fragile ark from Chicago to Israel

Small non...