No! This is a terrible attitude.

Yes, a year in Israel *is* a year of very limited responsibilities and unique opportunities for self-development and growth in Avodat Hashem, but it’s not just about *you*. You are part of a community—a yeshiva or seminary—and social groups.

https://twitter.com/frumtiktok/status/1835802109083529584

Don’t think you don’t have any responsibilities to your friends, classmates, teachers, school; you certainly do. Don’t be selfish! If anything, devoting yourself to Avodat Hashem, Talmud Torah, and mitzvot is meant to enhance our understanding of *God’s centrality* in our lives &

You can easily lose focus at the beginning of Gittin w/ the technicalities & back-and-forth

There’s a reason it’s a “yeshiva masekhta”; the lomdus is exquisite

But if you look a little closer, you may discover profound humanity & sensitivity at the core of the halakhic story,🧵 Masekhet Gittin begins in medias res—

It does not begin with building blocks of divorce (what is a divorce document, how does it work, what are grounds for divorce)—it starts with an unusual case of a husband, already separated from his wife, sending a divorce document from the

How do religiously committed single Jews navigate sexual desire and activity?

Rabbanit Dr. Jennie Rosenfeld set out to answer this question in her dissertation “Talmudic Rereadings: Toward a Modern Orthodox Sexual Ethic”

Today I gave a shiur using her trailblazing work, a 🧵 Some individuals struggling with sexual desire without halakhically-permissible outlets try their best to keep halakha rather than willingly violate it. You can’t just break halakha, you’re frum!

If they fail, they reason, then it’s אונס (compelled behavior) or שוגג (accidental)

This an important daf and discussion:

Gemara includes all areas of human experience—including sexuality

The question of how we speak about sexual desire and eroticism is not a simple one; Chazal clearly thought it was important (it has halakhic ramifications)
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https://twitter.com/Anzovina/status/1571974992421687298

First, what is necessary for a conversation about sexual desire?

It is deeply personal and vulnerable; it requires a space free of judgment or shame for one’s inner and base desires.

When we criticize or shame people for their sexual thoughts & feelings,
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I read this over Shabbos

Rabbi Schacter was the first musmakh of the Rav, he liberated Buchenwald at age 27, he was the President of Major Jewish Organizations, he was President of Mizrachi, fought for Soviet Jewry, was a pulpit rabbi, was an orator of the highest caliber Each period of his life would be worthy of its own biography. Rabbi Schacter was a hero, and he serves as a model for what a Modern Orthodox rabbi can be.

As a student of his son, Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter, this book meant so much more to me.