How Should a Religious Community Respond to Its Own Extremists? With Rabbi Yitzchak Blau (282)

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When disturbing stories emerge from within a religious community, the instinctive response is often immediate: they don't represent us.

But what comes after that?

In recent weeks, incidents involving religious Jews, from violence connected to Israeli settlers to attacks that shocked fellow Orthodox communities, have forced difficult questions into the open. How should a religious society respond when wrongdoing appears within its own ranks? When does healthy skepticism become denial? And what responsibility do leaders and ordinary community members bear when disavowal alone feels insufficient?

In this episode, Rabbi Yitzchak Blau joins me for a thoughtful and challenging conversation about moral responsibility, communal leadership, and the tension between loyalty and honesty, particularly within the Modern Orthodox and Religious Zionist world.

This is not a political discussion but a religious one. It is a conversation about truth, accountability, and what it means for a community to live up to its own values.

To listen to the latest Q&A episode of Intimate Judaism, click here.

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