Category Archives: Rabbi Thoughts

Tikkun Olam = What I am Against

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Rabbi Linden

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 | 1 Comment

A Year Without Football

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Rabbi Linden

At the start of this year’s professional football season, I decided that, given the information of the serious nature of head injuries caused by the normal play of the game, I would do without football for the year. My thinking … Continue reading →

Posted in Rabbi Thoughts | 4 Comments

A Movie Moses We Can Believe In

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Rabbi Linden

I guess if you have to make a movie about Moses, it makes some sense to have Steven Spielberg direct it. But I have to say, this description of the Moses movie is not at all heartening: Steven Spielberg is … Continue reading →

Posted in Popular Culture, Rabbi Thoughts | Tagged Ethan's great ideas, moses, movies | 2 Comments

Heroes and Antiheroes

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Rabbi Linden

Regular readers of this blog (all six of you!) know that I am a big fan of Friday Night Lights, the television show and the book, not the movie. In fact, I am such a big fan, that I have … Continue reading →

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Tim Tebow and the Cult of Individual Performance

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Rabbi Linden

One must be careful when talking about Tim Tebow. Just recently, a rabbi got in trouble for his column in The Jewish Week blasting Tebow’s overt religiosity. (The column has since been removed from the web, but an article about … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, Rabbi Thoughts | Tagged american culture, community, football, sports, tebow | 1 Comment

The Yentl Problem–Updated

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Rabbi Linden

Last year at Hanukah (you may see several other spellings for this word over the next few weeks on this blog) the Maccabeats, an a cappela group from Yeshiva University had a huge YouTube hit with their cover/parody Candlelight. Now, … Continue reading →

Posted in Holidays, Rabbi Thoughts | 1 Comment

Don’t Show Me the Money

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Rabbi Linden

This past high holidays, one of my sermons dealt with the issue of humanness, and the ways in which we divide between ourselves as humans and “animals.” I talked about a fantastic book by Elizabeth Hess called Nim Chimpsky: The … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, Rabbi Thoughts | 1 Comment

Thinking About Zombies

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Rabbi Linden

It seems zombies are the new vampires. Zombies, I am told, have replaced vampires as the new undead threat of choice in the world of popular culture. Ever attuned to such cultural shifts, I started watching The Walking Dead on … Continue reading →

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The Spirit of the Holidays: Teshuva

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Rabbi Linden

Over the next few weeks, I hope to be running a series of articles and reflections that I think highlight the various themes and ideas of the High Holiday season (which is, alarmingly, upon us). Any suggestions for this series … Continue reading →

Posted in Drop Everything And..., Holidays, Rabbi Thoughts | Leave a comment

God and Tragedy

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Rabbi Linden

Last night on Fresh Air Terry Gross did a great interview with two New York City Firemen who responded to the attacks on the Trade Center. One of the Firemen, Jay Jonas, was trapped on the fourth floor of the … Continue reading →

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What He Said

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Rabbi Linden

I haven’t had as much opportunity lately to give David Brooks the sort of love he is used to receiving from this blog, but today’s column gives me the chance. Here he is, demonstrating why I love the guy: This … Continue reading →

Posted in Drop Everything And..., Rabbi Thoughts | 2 Comments

Helping on Race, Ctd

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Rabbi Linden

Following up on an earlier post about the book and movie The Help, here’s is an interesting critique of the book from Patricia A. Turner, writing in The New York Times: This movie deploys the standard formula. With one possible … Continue reading →

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Bad News for Rabbis

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Rabbi Linden

Via The Daily Dish, this academic study, as least as reported by the Boston Globe seems to make life harder for clergy: Moral leadership is challenging for an obvious reason — you have to know what’s right and wrong. But … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Rabbi Thoughts | Leave a comment

Godless Prayer