Hello everyone!

The holidays are over — in fact, today and Shabbos are Rosh Chodesh Mar Cheshvan, the beginning of the month of Cheshvan (which is called Mar, bitter, because it has no holidays). So we are getting back to work, and have many new and developing projects which you’ll hear more about very soon.

Well, no time like the present, right? Our first announcement, below, is the beginning of a new class here at Torah.org for advanced readers. Rabbi Adlerstein has been a great friend of Project Genesis and personal mentor since the beginning, and a driving force behind our Cross-Currents blog/journal. To have him teaching through Torah.org is therefore a uniquely gratifying honor, and I can merely hope that advanced students will enjoy the new class nearly as much as I will.

There’s something else about this class that is unique: it comes with a dedication of financial support. This ensures that Rav Adlerstein will be able to take time from his multitudinous other responsibilities to write each weekly class.

I bring this to your attention because, while we are adding classes now (and this week’s featured Dvar Torah is a teaser for our next addition), we have also recently lost a few teachers to other, more lucrative projects. Given our budget, all of our teachers are volunteers. But if you make a dedication in support of a class, both the teacher and Torah.org benefit. You may think it a tiny thing, but it makes a tremendous difference. How better to express your thanks and enthusiasm?

So I hope that you will consider Dedicating a Class to ensure that it continues as well. Again, it does make a difference, and we sincerely appreciate your ongoing support for our program.

Good Shabbos!
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
Director, Project Genesis / Torah.org

Live and Let Live

By Jon Erlbaum

In the first verse of his classic James Bond theme song – just before the song shifts into its ominous frenzy – Sir Paul McCartney uses his sweet, melodic vocals to extol the virtues of a youthful “Live and Let Live” ideology. This philosophy of tolerance that he is referring to is one that enjoys widespread appeal in Western Societies. And while most ideologies are not perfect, the “Live and Let Live” value system would probably fare well in a morality competition against its similar sounding alternatives, such as 1) “Live and Let Die”, championed by DESPOTS, AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES, etc.; and 2) “Die and Let Die”, popularized by SUICIDE/HOMICIDE BOMBERS, CULT LEADERS WHO MANDATE MASS SUICIDE, and others.

(Read on …)

We are honored to announce that Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, the Director of Interfaith Affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, faculty member at Yeshiva of Los Angeles and its high schools, and chair holder at the Sydney M. Irmas Chair in Jewish Law and Ethics at Loyola Law School, will be publishing a class here at Torah.org!

Rabbi Adlerstein has created an advanced class based on the Nesivos Shalom texts. The Slonimer Rebbe zt”l seems to have found the perfect mix of passionate and inspiring Chassidus, and Mussar that speaks directly to the individual. As a seasoned leader, he understood people with all their contemporary faults and is not afraid to directly confront issues of failure, lack of connectedness, depression, etc., incorporating even the negatives into a road map that leads inevitably to a higher place for the person seeking it.

Read Rabbi Adlerstein’s first offering on Noach.

You can subscribe by sending a blank email to nesivosshalom-subscribe@torah.org

This new class is made possible by support secured by Frank Lee and Joel Levine, Los Angeles, CA.