“…my impressions of much of Los Angeles Jewish life — creative, casual, relaxed — particularly compared to New York”
…consistent with my impressions of much of Los Angeles Jewish life — creative, casual,...
Category Archives: Jewish
“Rabbi Gordimer…offers nothing to those who ask the questions addressed by Open Orthodoxy”
Rabbi Gordimer is not obliged to endorse or even respect Open Orthodoxy’s agenda or...
“R. Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik…wanted Christians to understand their scripture anew through sympathetic Jewish eyes and to educate his Jewish readers about their misunderstanding of Christianity”
R. Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik, the traditional rabbi from Lithuania…is actually more sympathetic to Christian...
“In Customer Service 101, it seems that the customer is always right. In kosher dining, it too often seems that the customer is always wrong”
In Customer Service 101, it seems that the customer is always right. In kosher...
“n short, kiruv work has moved from what could have been a legitimate path to engage and educate Jews, and to bring them closer to the Jewish community, to become part of a sales force designed to sell a particular approach to Judaism and to distance followers from the vast majority of the Jewish community”
Unfortunately, what began as a well-intentioned set of attempts to bring individuals to a...
“…but the real stimulus to Federation funding was the occasional threat of anti-Semitism”
I argued for funding to do more serious Jewish education on campus, but the...
“…there is no specific Modern Orthodox credo, no statement of Jewish values, no formalized rubric through which adherents are encouraged to think about issues other than those related to ritual practice”
…although Modern Orthodoxy has produced many brilliant and dedicated leaders and laymen, it has...
“When one turns to the situation on campus, one similarly wants to be alert to anti-Semitism without confusing it with legitimate differences of perspective”
…it’s easy to confuse genuine criticism of Israeli policy for anti-Semitism. We are blessed...
“The denominational war for the heart and soul of American Judaism is over”
The denominational war for the heart and soul of American Judaism is over. The...
“A beautiful bit of hardware, it requires deed first and only then contemplation”
You don’t have to be much of a theologian to see how different tefillin...