By one vote, with a majority of six MKs who supported the passing of the Conversion Law to five opposed, the Legislative Committee of the Knesset approved for its second and third reading the harsh Conversion bill which will surely wreak havoc upon the entire conversion setup. The Committee rejected all requests for a rerun vote of the proposed law in light of the many reservations voiced against it.

HaRav Chaim Kanievsky: Learning Mussar Brings one to Learning Torah

"The study of Mussar promotes an appetite for Torah study," stated HaRav Chaim Kanievsky to the rabbonim of the "Orchos Yosher" organization founded to disseminate and promote the daily study of Orchos Tzaddikim and the beginning of a new cycle of daily study in Mesillas Yeshorim.

HaRav Gershon Edelstein: Like a Servant to his Master

A man's obligation in his life is to engage with Torah and mitzvos with all his powers, like a slave who is obligated to serve his master at all times and in every situation," said HaRav Gershon Edelstein in an address to mark the beginning of the zman in the beis medrash of the Ponovezh Yeshiva.

Chillul Shabbos Increasing in Jerusalem

"We have no recourse but to appeal to gedolei haTorah for their counsel and blessing for a mass protest in the city streets to cry out for the sake of Shabbos and protest the increasing chillul Shabbos in the Holy City of Yerushalayim." This was the summing up of rabbonim and public figures aggrieved by the desecrated pride of Shabbos, at the emergency meeting held in the wake of the considerable spread of chillul Shabbos in the city.

From Our Archives

Opinion and Comment Excerpt from HaRav Wosner's Shabbos Shuvoh Droshoh on the Threat Cell Phones Pose to Am Yisroel . . . Chazal (Sota 4b) interpreted the verse, ". . . ad kikar lechem" (Mishlei 6:26) to mean that through a sin that undermines the modesty of Klal Yisroel a person loses the source of his bread and sustenance and falls into decline.

Opinion and Comment Riding Out the Storms: Moral Corruption Leads to Social Ruin by Mordecai Plaut Part II Sometimes we read the Chumash and the words shake us with the immediacy of newspaper headlines. (We spent last Shabbos shaken up and did not think that the insight bears waiting until next year.)

Opinion and Comment He Who Aspires to the Crown of Torah: Effective Strategies for Strengthening Oneself and Overcoming the Difficulties by Harav Sholom Noach Berezovsky, zt"l The posuk tells us in Haazinu, "Binu shenos dor vo'dor" -- strive to understand the years, i.e., the nature, of each and every generation. Each generation is a subject unto itself and requires careful study in order to comprehend it. When one does understand the generation, one comes to grasp also what its task is and what its goal is. Through this it becomes possible to assess and to clarify the particular mode of conduct that the generation demands.