To curb the spread of COVID-19, houses worship in State New York were legally required to limit attendance at religious ceremonies. Two communities—the Roman Catholic Diocese Brooklyn and Orthodox Jewish organization, Agudath Israel America—asked U.S. Supreme Court intervene. This article provides a theological interpretation Court’s decision grant these communities injunctive relief, thus free...

Feminism has a variety of meanings. According to Nikki Craske, despite the often-heated debates about the meaning of feminism, most would likely concur with Rosalind Delmar’s assessment that feminism attempts to transform women from object to subject, specifically with respect to knowledge. In other words, feminism and by extension feminist activism is about centering the lives of women. Sonia ...

The principle of keruv1 is central to the ideals and aspirations of Judaism. We frequently cite as one of our most important goals the need to bring those who are only tangentially involved in things Jewish closer to the center of Jewish life and to make Judaism more central to their lives. While the term keruv is most frequently invoked with regard to Jews, the same attitude might be of import...

A unique screening program for the identification of Tay-Sachs Disease (TSD) heterozygotes has been performed in the tradi- tional Orthodox Ashkenazi Jewish (AJ) community since 1983. In recent years the program has utilized the biochemical assay for the determination of hexosaminidase A levels by the heat inactivation technique as well as by direct DNA analysis. The three mutations which were ...

BACKGROUND Hypovitaminosis D is common worldwide, even in sunny regions. OBJECTIVES To assess the prevalence and determinants of vitamin D deficiency in toddlers. METHODS A cross-sectional prospective study was conducted in healthy Jewish children aged 1.5-6 years at five primary care pediatric clinics in the Jerusalem area during the period October 2009 to November 2010. Parents were inter...

Byzantine music is a cover term for the liturgical music used in the Orthodox Church within the Byzantine Empire and the Churches regarded as continuing that tradition. This music is monophonic (with drone notes), exclusively vocal, and almost entirely sacred: very little secular music of this kind has been preserved, although we know that court ceremonial music in Byzantium was similar to the ...

BACKGROUND Religious (halachic*) infertility' results from precoital ovulation prior to immersion in a ritual bath (mikveh) 7 days after menstruation, as mandated by Jewish religious law. Previous authors recommended treatment with estradiol to postpone ovulation and enhance pregnancy rates. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the prevalence of halachic infertility in an ultra-Orthodox jewish community, a...

We conducted a prospective, nationwide, population-based study of invasive group A streptococcal infections in Israel. We identified 409 patients (median age 27 years; range <1-92), for an annual incidence of 3.7/100,000 (11/100,000 in Jerusalem). The mortality rate was 5%. Bacteremia occurred in 125 cases (31%). The most common illnesses were soft-tissue infection (63%) and primary bacteremia ...

Although the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is not recommended for mumps postexposure prophylaxis (PEP), data on its effectiveness are limited. During the 2009-2010 mumps outbreak in the northeastern United States, we assessed effectiveness of PEP with a third dose of MMR vaccine among contacts in Orthodox Jewish households who were given a third dose within 5 days of mumps onset in the ho...