December 19, 2024

Unpacking the Iggerot: Patriotism, Pragmatism and Particularism

R. Moshe Feinstein is known for his patriotic embrace of his adopted home in the United States. But Moshe Kurtz’s closer look presents a more nuanced and skeptical version of R. Feinstein’s positions on an array of issues, including his many reservations about American public policy, and the fundamental nature of non-Jewish society.
November 28, 2024

Unpacking the Iggerot: Mikve, Money & Mysticism

What happens when halakha and kabbala clash? Moshe Kurtz explores how R. Moshe Feinstein either valued or objected to the incorporation of mystical and hasidic concepts into normative halakhic practice.
November 26, 2024

RESPONSE: Celebrating Bat Mitzva

Responding to a recent column in Moshe Kurtz’s “Unpacking the Iggerot” series, Yitzchak Blau draws our attention to a difference of tone and orientation between rabbis Moshe Feinstein and Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg concerning celebrating a Bat Mitzva and the induction of young women into serious and mature Jewish life and learning.
November 14, 2024

Unpacking the Iggerot: Appliances and Affluence

The kashrut status of dishwashers and the propriety of Bat Mitzva ceremonies have absolutely nothing to do with each other, right? Ostensibly, that may be true. But, Moshe Kurtz digs below the surface to identify the common theme that emerges from this odd pairing of topics addressed by R. Moshe Feinstein in a short, yet iconic responsum.