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Category Archives: Jewish world
A Response from Bend the Arc
In response to my recent post about the name of Bend the Arc, and the shuttering of the service learning division, I received an e-mail from Avi Smolen, the Communications Manager for Bend the Arc. With his permission, I am … Continue reading
Posted in Jewish world, Religion in America
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UnBending the Arc
I’m not sure how many people noticed, but two interesting and vibrant Jewish organizations, Jewish Funds For Justice (which went by the spectacularly misleading acronym JFSJ) and the Progressive Jewish Alliance (which went by the somewhat more helpful PJA) recently … Continue reading
Posted in Jewish world, Religion in America
1 Comment
A Modest Proposal About “The List”
I have blogged before about the annual list of America’s Fifty Top Rabbis. I have joked in the past that this is the list that is stupid and pointless until you are on it (or your rabbi/institutional leader is on … Continue reading
Posted in Current Events, Jewish world
5 Comments
Tikkun Olam = What I am Against
Here is the thing about tikkun olam: if you are going to write an entire article blasting people for using the term incorrectly, you really ought to get your facts straight, or at the very least do a tiny bit … Continue reading
Posted in Jewish Thought, Jewish world, Rabbi Thoughts
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Facebook Swarming is Great, But We Have To Do better on Agunah
Of all the ethically problematic issues raised by tradition Jewish practice, none is so vexing as that of the aguna, or chained wife. Briefly, the traditional Jewish marriage can only be disovled with a document of divorce, called a get, … Continue reading
Posted in Current Events, Jewish world
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So You Say You Want a Revolution
Let me begin by saying that I love Limmud. I support Limmud here in New Orleans, and I think it’s a great thing. It is not, however, the salvation of the Jewish people. David Hazony seems to disagree however: What if … Continue reading
Posted in Jewish Thought, Jewish world, Religion in America
Tagged community, jewish learning, limmud
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AVODAH and Israel: Letter 2.0
This for sure goes in the “nobody asked me but” category, but I think writing and speaking about things that fall into that category is a bit of an occupational hazard. (It sometimes feels like most divrei Torah I give … Continue reading
Posted in Israel, Jewish world
3 Comments
Israel and Jewish Social Justice
The headline doesn’t do the thing justice. Israel Trip Divides Jewish Service Group But the story is anything but. The first paragraph lays out the problem: A social service trip to Israel may seem like an innocuous program for a … Continue reading
Posted in Israel, Jewish world
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Anti-Semitism and Occupy Wall Street
Whatever we may think of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, surely the entire conversation deserves better than than ham-handed attempt by an outfit called the Emergency Committee For Israel to insinuate that the OWS movement is just rife with kooky … Continue reading
Posted in Current Events, Jewish world
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The Death of JDub
It’s possible you’ve never heard of JDub Records. It probably (somewhat) depends on your age. (No offense meant there, it’s just probably true.) But the basic story is that JDub records was among the first of a bumper crop of … Continue reading
Posted in Jewish world
2 Comments
You Must Choose…
But choose wisely. According to Benjamin Resnik, a rabbinical student at JTS, there may in fact be an irreconcilable tension between being a liberal American Jews and a Zionist. In fact, it may be that there is a irreconcilable tension … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Judaism, Jewish world
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Jewish and American and Liberal and Zionist and…
For over a month, I have been actively avoiding posting anything about the issue of Israel and American Jews. Well, not avoiding exactly. I think the better term would be agonizing. The issue burst forth in a long article by … Continue reading
Posted in Israel, Jewish world
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Family Matters
Any chance to reference that classic sit-com is worth it. But the issue is a serious one. Here is Rabbi Jill Levy, writing on The Sisterhood blog at The Forward: During rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary, I served … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Judaism, Jewish world
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You Say Tomato, I say Slavery
By sheer coincidence, I read this press release from Magen Tzedek on the same day that Barry Estabrook, the author of a book called Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit was on Fresh Air on NPR. … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Judaism, Jewish world
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Peer Reinforcement, Strictness and Conformity
I highly recommend checking out Rabbi Ethan Tucker’s talk at the opening of Yeshivat Hadar’s summer learning session. You can find the video here. The talk is very interestingly, though the production values on the video leave something to be … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Judaism, Jewish world
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